Interstellar! Pretty Cure
by LeafAkemi
Summary: There's nothing that could be done. The Starlight Duo rose, and they fell. The people they took with them were just collateral damage. But nothing like it could happen again. Until it did. Enemies return, and with them, Pretty Cure. Cure Celestial just wants everyone to stay alive this time.
1. Chapter 1

"Bye, Grandpa!" Niko said it as she rushed out the door, already leaping onto her bike. Her grandpa in question didn't even get a chance to respond before the door slammed behind her, and Niko was off.

A mental checklist went up in her brain. She needed coffee. Then she would go to school. She'd wing the rest.

There was nothing special about today, just like how the rest of the days had gone. And honestly? Niko was kind of glad about that. It was nearing six months since everything had started, and she just wanted to forget about it all like the rest of Keres had.

Six months since her grandpa got sick. Six months since the sky darkened. Six months since the meteor shower, and six months since….

Since Chikara had disappeared along with twenty-six other teenagers.

Niko shook her head. No, no. She had sworn to herself that she'd push it all back, that she wouldn't dwell on it. For her sake, and for her grandpa's sake. Chikara wouldn't want her to be as depressed as she was almost six months ago.

No, there was nothing special about today. Niko would just head to Luros Preparatory as always, barely passing classes and doing nothing after school but going home, having empty conversations with Madison and Aria.

Was it the future she wanted? No. But it was the future she had, and she didn't need anything different or life changing.

Life could just stay stagnant like this.

" _You can't run forever, little messenger."_

The voice echoed in Sollari's ears as they ran. People barely looked up as they weaved between human legs, clamoring over leather shoes.

It should have struck Sollari as odd. Messengers were either welcomed or feared, not ignored. But they only cared about getting away. Ritzu would be close behind.

" _The Everlasting knows you will never make another Pretty Cure. You are a failure, and you only came here in a fruitless attempt to save a much better messenger."_

Creatures of the Vertex didn't have stardrops. There was no point to Ritzu's tauntings. Which meant...which meant….they were all true.

No! Sollari wouldn't believe that. They'd lie to themself over and over again before they believed it. They could do anything. They could, they could…

" _Lead me to your new child. Your divine saviour."_

They wouldn't. But they could feel Ritzu, they could feel them…was it already too late? Was their soul spark damaged, like a stardrop in a human who had lost their hope?

" _Your celestial._ "

Sollari's rust-red tail twitched. Their nose knew where they were going, even if their brain was preoccupied. The girl with the pink stardrops. Their saviour. The last child who had known Cure Star, even indirectly.

They didn't know her name, but they would know. They had to. It was their duty as a messenger of the Vertex Core.

It was a reach, but it was all Sollari had. Lune was gone. Star was gone. The only one who had known Star's identity was gone.

Sollari knew they were a failure of a messenger. Every Pretty Cure they had had never lasted very long, not even in training. Their power wasn't strong enough.  
They didn't know how to make Pretty Cure, but they knew Lune. And they had to...they had to…..

They had to try. For Lune's sake.

It was the future they wanted. Sollari and Lune, the sun and the moon, day and night…

Their best friend was lost, and Sollari would not give into darkness.

So they continued to run.

 _I will find you, purikyua, ari. For our future, ari._

 _For the future of the sun above, I will fight, ari._

 **For the future of the sun above, I will fight.**

Niko's head suddenly felt like it had been stabbed.

Her bike wobbled and toppled over, and Niko was crumpled on the sidewalk.

 **For the future of the sun above.**

Without thinking, Niko's hands moved up to unclip her helmet. She had to get it off, off, because it had to be the one stabbing her head like this.

In only a few strokes, the silver helmet slammed to the ground. Alright. Step one done.

The second was to get up. Get up, and then she could walk somewhere, get some advil. Or maybe coffee. She needed something.

She hadn't hit something while she was biking, had she? No, the path was clear. Cars zoomed by, but nothing had stopped for even a second.

It was normal. It had to be just a headache, not anything special.

" _No, no, it was weird. I heard it in my head, Ni. In my head - don't laugh! God, this is why I don't tell you stuff. Hey, hey, I don't mean that. It's a joke, alright? I tell you everything."  
_ " _I mean, you're like my only friend. Yeah, that is kinda depressing, huh?"_

No. No no no no.

Life could stay stagnant. It had to. It had to. It had to.

Niko pushed herself up, legs still shaking.

Just had to get to school. Nothing ever happened at Luros. Aria, and Madison, and everyone...they just rambled on about tv shows or games and it was all mindless nonsense they knew was just to avoid talking about anything real.

Niko liked that. It was normal.

 **You're wrong. Nothing is normal anymore.**

Niko almost screamed.

The whole world pulsed in and out.

 _Stop it, stop it!_ She thought. It was telepathy or something stupid like that, right? Just more nonsense that wasn't real. So if she said stop it, it would stop.

 **I'm at the park. Please help me. I can help you.**

The park. That wasn't anything specific, but somehow...somehow Niko just knew. There was a park just across the street, and that would be fine.  
 _Please stop it._

Niko took one step, than another, her entire body tense. If she got a return message, she might collapse in the middle of the street.

A flash of green light started her moving. One step. Two steps. Three steps.

She had left her bike behind. Niko inwardly cursed.

Four steps. Five steps.

Why was this happening? Nothing had done this for six months. Not since the calls for help had resounded in everyone's minds for miles, seconds before the meteor shower.

Even that hadn't hurt so much. It was more subconscious, a simple _you have to help, go_ before everything ended.

No one had made it in time - wherever it was - before everything ended anyway.

Niko was pretty sure the official explanation for the two-week panic was gas leaks, or something equally as stupid.

The teenagers knew what had happened. It was their friends who had vanished from existence, after all.

You know, until everyone forgot.

Niko had lost count of her steps. She was in the park now, tennis shoes sinking in tanbark as she walked through the trees.

"Ari," came a squeak. Niko tensed, hands balling into fists.

Probably just a squirrel. Or a bird. It was nothing, nothing.

There was a cafe stall in the park. Just walk towards there, and get a coffee. It was a stupid idea, but Niko held onto it.

"You can hear me, right, ari?"

That wasn't a squeak.

A tiny white squirrel-like body dropped from a tree to the tanbark below. It raised its head, revealing twin glittering black eyes.

It was more bunny-like than a squirrel, with long burnt orange ears, though they were rounded rather than pointed. The bunny's tail was the most interesting - a rust red trail that seemed at least a foot long.

"Help me, ari. You're the only one that can, ari."

Niko took a step backwards.

"I think you've got the wrong person. I only came here cause I wanted my head to stop hurting." The words flowed out of her mouth too quickly, but they were true.

The bunny winced.

"Sorry, ari. I should have known it would hurt you, ari. I shouldn't have forced the link, ari…but I need you, ari."

Niko held a hand out. Things needed to stop for at least one second.

"Need me for -" Niko cut herself off. First, she needed an explanation. "Who are you? And why the hell can you talk?"

The bunny stood up on two legs, their eyes shining with fear and determination.

"I am the solar messenger Sollari et Al of the Vertex Core, ari. You can call me Sollari, ari. I'm here because my friends have been captured, and you're the only one I know, ari." Sollari's tail swayed from left to right, like a cat ready to pounce.

"But I don't...I don't know you?" It came out more like a question. Sollari's eyes shimmered once more, but it seemed more like tears hidden out of sight.

"You knew Chikara Oshiro, ari?"

Niko paled. Her hands curled into fists once more, nails digging into the skin of her palms.

"Why would you ask that?"

Sollari didn't falter.

"But you knew her, ari?"

Niko nodded. She couldn't think of a response.

"Then you're the one, ari. You have to...you have to help me, ari."

"Why would you..." No one had said Chikara's name in months.

"I'll explain later. Please, ari. They're coming, ari."

Well, the messenger or whatever wasn't going to answer her questions.

Niko, against all better instinct, scooped up Sollari in her arms and walked into the park.

Text message from Aria: Niko?  
Text message from Aria: Are you okay?  
Text message from Aria: Where are you?

Text message from Mads: dude where the hell are you  
Text message from Mads: if you leave us to do this presentation on our own i will drop kick you out the window  
You: busy  
You: i'll be there  
You sent a photo.  
Text message from Mads: that's blurry as hell dude  
Text message from Aria: Busy with what?

You: chikara

Aria and Mads are typing...

"A mocha for Niko?"

Niko looked up from her phone. The cafe server, a lady not much older than Niko with dark blue hair down her back, held an exceedingly large coffee cup in her hands.

"Thanks," Niko mumbled, and took the cup. She shouldn't have said Chikara. She was going to need a lot of caffeine to deal with the fallout of that decision.

Despite beginning to sip the searing drink, Niko still felt a gaze on her back. She looked up once more to see the server still looming over her.

"Is that...a bunny?"

 **Don't tell them.**

With a pounding ache in her head, Niko looked at Sollari, hidden inside her backpack. The "messenger" didn't show any signs of movement.

Niko took another sip.

"Stuffed animal," she replied, voice flat. The server looked skeptical, but turned to go back to the coffee cart.

 **Thank you.**

Niko held her forehead in her empty hand.

"Don't do that," she muttered. "Hurts."

Sollari squirmed in the backpack, upset. Or were they uncomfortable?

 **I-**

Sollari seemed to realize their mistake as soon as they started, burrowing deeper into the jumble of books in Niko's backpack.

"Hope it's not eating any," she muttered. She really shouldn't feel bad for it. It was basically blackmailing her into helping it through the whole telepathy thing.

But...it didn't know it was hurting her.

Niko sighed. Better not to make an enemy just yet.

Turning behind her, Niko scooped up Sollari and placed them on her lap.

"That better?" she asked.

Sollari nodded, curling up on her lap.

Niko sipped her mocha with one hand, petting Sollari with the other.  
Text message from Mads: why the hell would you  
Text message from Mads: this isn't funny  
Text message from Aria: Niko?

Niko shut her phone off.

"Sollari."

The bunny raised their head slightly, orange ears pressed flat.

"What does this have to do with Chikara?" It still felt so _wrong_ to say her name like that, like it was all still happening. Like everyone had hope they'd find the missing teenagers.

Sollari pressed themself against Niko's lap, unwilling to answer. It was so different than the unfaltering speech of before, or the commanding voice in her head.

"Sollari," Niko tried again, a bit sterner. Sollari only shook their head. "Sollari, please."

"They came after her, ari. They wanted to get to Lune, to Star, so they came after her, ari."

It took a second for Niko to realize that Sollari had said it. They looked so sad, bundled up with their long tail wrapping around them.

"They dissolved her, like they did to everyone else, ari. They took the light of hope from her, ari."

Niko's mocha seemed to taste bitter all of a sudden.

"What do you mean?" Niko wasn't expecting an answer, but Sollari finally met her eyes with their own.

"Stardrops, ari. You humans have them, ari. The light of hope and the power of creation, together as your very essence, ari. The Outer Limits -" that must be who 'they' were, Niko noted, "- extract the light of hope, ari. Without the light of hope, the power of creation means nothing, ari. The human breaks down into despair, ari."

"Then why did no one notice this 'despair'?" Sollari looked grave.

"I meant it literally, ari. The human literally dissolves into despair energy, ari."

Niko wasn't thirsty anymore.

"And that...that's what happened to Chikara. The twenty-seven teens…"

Sollari nodded.

"It will happen to more, ari. The Outer Limits don't just want the light of hope - they want the power of creation, ari. So they will try again, ari. Again and again…."

Niko decided to change the subject.

"So," she tried, feeling a little better when Sollari raised their head again, "what happened to, um, Lune? Or was it Star?"

Sollari's face fell along with Niko's heart.

"Lune, ari…"  
Sollari's eyes shimmered with small tears. Were they going to start crying? Niko grabbed one of the napkins she had set next to her mocha.

Sollari sniffed, and rubbed their eyes.

"Lune is...the moon, ari. Bright but gentle, unyielding but kind, ari. A guiding light, ari."

Sollari made a motion to sink back into Niko's lap, but stayed where they were.

"I am the sun, ari. Too bright, ari. Too strong, ari. You look to me as a beacon of hope, and I can only sear in response, ari. I burn people with my own arrogance, ari."

"What...happened?" Niko knew she wasn't going to get a response. Sollari curled around themselves once more.

"We should go, ari."

"Huh?" The park was still abandoned. No one would notice Sollari here, except for maybe the two cafe ladies.

"They'll be coming, ari."

That was all the justification Niko really wanted. She scooped Sollari up in her arms, slid her backpack back on, and pushed herself up from the cafe table.

Holding Sollari to her chest, she walked quickly away. A quick look behind her told her that both the barista and the server weren't looking.

Then why could she still feel a gaze on her?

Wings spread wide.

The fairy couldn't run forever. Even if they had found their so-called saviour, it was nothing but false hope.

Though truly, all hope was false. Ritzu had learned that long ago.

They cracked a smile under their bird-like mask.

Stupid fairy. They had tried to reason with the solar messenger, if not for very long. Ritzu was more patient than their subordinates, but that didn't mean much. Pretty much anyone was more patient than the Trinity.

However, patience in interrogating and patience in stalking prey were two very, _very_ different things.

"Ritzu? Ritzu?" A quick look down told them that one of the Trinity in question, Rune, was currently trying to establish connection between their heart links. The kuriline's face rippled across the surface of the violet heart on Ritzu's chest.

Ritzu wasn't particularly fond of kurilines as a species, much less Rune. She had her merits when it come to gathering the light of hope - particularly with the kurilines' ability to store energy in their antennae - but she was still a petulant little child. A petulant young kuriline with the ability to shapeshift was never good.

Still, they detached the heart from their chest and held it up to their face. Rune's four white eyes lit up.

"Ah, you picked up! That's _-"_ and there came the hissing crackle Rune peppered into her sentences as much as Nebulous did with her human "curses" - "-ing new. Not complaining, though!" Another hiss, though this one was most likely laughter. Ritzu had learned to pick up on the context of each hiss.

"What do you want, Rune?" Rune frowned, though Ritzu didn't know why. She had called them, after all.

"Don't get snappy. Neb and Merc want updates. Are we going after the messenger or not?"

" _I_ am going after the messenger. _You_ are to wait for instructions." Rune's frown deepened into a scowl.

"Oh yeah?" The words came out in an angry hiss, not unlike a earth cat.

"Yes, 'oh yeah.' I am attempting to cut the messenger off before they create a new legendary warrior." Rune's eyes widened at the word warrior. She was still a coward, Ritzu mused. "If I fail, it is up to the Trinity to take them down."

Rune looked away from the heart, shaking her head.

"You're still an asshole...but fine. Get the messenger by yourself. But _I_ get to get the information out of it."

Without a goodbye, or any real sense of professionalism, Rune disappeared.

Ritzu snapped the heart back onto their chest.

They would do this themself. Time to get to work.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, what exactly is coming after you?"

Soft grass crunched under Niko's feet. The dew wet her shoes, and Niko shivered slightly.

"Ritzu, ari."

Sollari pressed themself against Niko's chest, their body soft and warm much like a cat.  
Niko was slightly alarmed at how fast she had grown to care about Sollari, if only a little. Maybe Sollari's species of so-called messengers had evolved to look so cute and helpless so people would instinctively protect them.

Though that was assuming all species were drawn to cute things as much as humans were. The whole idea of alien species made Niko's head spin.

"And who is...Ritzu?"

Sollari whimpered, whatever their answer was muffled into Niko's chest.

"Sollari, please. I want to help you." Niko didn't actually know if she wanted to. It would depend. She didn't want to get dragged into anything supernatural again after what happened six months ago.

 **No! Be quiet.**

Niko squinted, a dull pound wracking her head.

 _Why?_ She thought back. Even when suspicious, it was better to be safe than sorry.

 **Don't think. You're not quiet enough.**

"God, that hurts," she hissed under her breath. Sollari looked at her with wide eyes.

 **Niko, please!**

"Sollari, stop it. We're fine." Panic was seeping into Niko's thoughts, leaking from Sollari's words and dripping into her own psyche.

 **No, you don't understand! You're** _ **despairing!**_

"What?"

Sollari jumped out of Niko's arms, landing clumsily on the grass.

 **They'll-**

Sollari froze, eyes locked on the sky above. Niko looked up to try and follow their gaze, but only saw the overcast sky above.

"Sollari, what's wrong?"

"T-they...they'll…" Sollari stuttered over their words, choking on their own fear.

Niko suddenly realized that Sollari wasn't looking at the sky. They were looking at - no, they were looking _past_ Niko.

Niko turned way too late.

The first thing her brain told her was that it was a harpy. Honestly, that wasn't a bad guess. Wispy light blue hair cascaded down the figure, pushed back by some sort of plague doctor-esque mask. There were no holes for its eyes, and the little skin that wasn't hidden by an oversized purple scarf looked deathly white.

The other thing she noticed were the large, dark blue wings in place of arms. Like an owl, perching in the rafters.

The figure said nothing, striding towards Niko. She squeezed Sollari to her chest harder.

"St-stay away." Everything seemed so much colder now.

If the figure heard her, it didn't react. One wing extended outward, and Niko's eyes widened at the sight of two dark, spindly arms under it.

Four armed birdman. It'd be funny if Niko wasn't so terrified.

"Ritzu, ari."

Sollari peeked out of Niko's arms. The stuttering had vanished - they must have practiced what they wanted to say, like when they had met Niko.

A smile cracked under the hooked 'beak' of the mask.

"Messenger." The voice was monotone and even, but there was a hint of malice. Yet, the voice seemed to hide almost...happiness. Anticipation. The birdman - no, Ritzu - was _waiting_ for its chance to hurt Sollari, and it _wanted_ it.

And yet Sollari's voice hadn't been scared at all. They were terrified - Niko could feel it in her head. But Sollari had expected it, and they were ready for it.

Niko felt very out of place.

"Stay away from me, ari."

Ritzu laughed.

"And why would I do that, messenger? You hold a dangerous power. And it seems you found your precious little hope…"

They eyed Niko from top to bottom. Niko shivered, pulling Sollari close to her.

"Seems you're too much of a coward to make her transform into Pretty Cure. Though I'm not one to complain about easy prey."

Niko took one step back, and then another. Her body seemed to be responding to her mind sluggishly, like it was disconnected. She almost tripped over her own feet.

"Scared, human?" They laughed again, and Niko could hear no humor in it. "You should be. That messenger you're holding is very dangerous, and _very_ inexperienced. One wrong move and...well…"

Sollari squirmed.

"Let's just say there's a reason that particular little messenger never had any surviving Pretty Cure."

 _I burn people with my own arrogance, ari._

Niko shook her head. This guy was obviously adept at head games, and she didn't want to be more messed up than she already was.

"Don't try to trick me."

Ritzu chuckled, shaking their head slightly.

"You catch on quick, little hope. Sadly, it won't save you."

This should be a dream. This had to be a dream, Sollari and Ritzu and everyone, and she could just wake up and repress what Chikara said to her about people in her head and gods and ghosts and stars…

"Save me from what?" she got out.

Ritzu smiled, but only with their mouth. Their intention was hidden along with their eyes.

"You can't transform into a Pretty Cure without any stardrops, little hope."

They rushed Niko.

Sollari was screaming in her head to run, creating a dull, aching pound of _run, run, run_.

 _Run, run, run._

" _Ni! NIKO! Just RUN!"_

"Can't," she said. "Can't run."

" _I won't leave you behind."_

In Niko's vision, pink lights danced around Ritzu, around Sollari in her arms, around the world. Somehow, she knew that they weren't real. The lights were in her eyes, inside of _her_. And she had to try.

Sollari squeezed their eyes shut, golden light pouring out of them like tears, the stripe on their head glowing bright and the red tail separating into five distinct stands. If Niko didn't do something right now, then Sollari would do something rash.

For a second, Niko only despaired.

But the second passed, and Ritzu was reaching out for Niko's face. The fear had melted away into pure determination. Determination to do what, Niko didn't know.

But she did know what to say.

" _Glimmering blue light of love! Protect me from despair!"_

Sollari twitched as Niko recalled the memory, as if they could hear the words inside their own head.

"Blessed pink light of hope! Protect me from despair!"

For a heart-stopping minute, nothing happened.

Ritzu didn't freeze, and a spindly black hand grabbed Niko, and that horrifying smile cracked across their face-

A glimmer of light from Niko's chest.

" _Messenger,"_ hissed Ritzu. They yanked their hand away, wings outstretched. If the mask had eye sockets, Niko knew she would have seen fire in their eyes, burning with hatred.

And that was the last Niko saw as her world exploded into pink light.

"How did...did you do that, ari?"

Niko blinked.

The world around her was pink and blinding, Sollari perched on her shoulder with a grim expression.

"Was I….unconscious?" Sollari shook their head.

"Time works differently right now, ari. You're currently between two states of being, ari - mortal, and Pretty Cure, ari." Another perfectly-rehearsed answer. But Sollari's lip quivered.

"Where did you hear those...um, those words, ari?"

Niko thought for a second.

"From Chikara. Wait, did you say I'm not mortal or-"

"Chikara Oshiro, ari. I should have...should have known, ari."

Sollari hopped off of Niko's shoulder, floating gently in the ethereal light.

"Hold on a second-!"

Niko reached for the fairy, but with no ground to push off of, she ended up only tipping over and flailing a bit.

"I'm sorry to have to...to make you do this, ari. I don't think that...that we have any other choice, ari." Sollari's eyes were wide and glimmering.

Suddenly, their eyes were blindingly bright, gold light shining from the stripe atop their head. A ball of light appeared between their hands, and Sollari seemed to shape it into some sort of disk.

"Take it, ari."

Niko gingerly grabbed the disk. To her surprise, it wasn't hot at all. The light slowly dimmed as she held it in her hands.

There was a star shaped dial on the front, against a pink disk-like top. It was similar to a make-up compact, in fact.

The star itself was white, with a different colored stripe on each end - pink, orange, blue, purple, and yellow. A gold jewel was inset on the center. In fact, the rest of the compact was gold, including the polished latch and trim around the outside.

"What is this?" Sollari took a breath.

"That is a Cosmic Compact, ari. Technically, it is my own Solar Compact, created from the power of a messenger, ari. As I hold the power of golden light, it is reflected in my compact, ari. This compact draws upon your stardrops' power to transform you into the legendary Pretty Cure, in order to fight against the Outer Limits and protect the Vertex Core, ari."

The words blended together. Pretty Cure...Sollari had mentioned that before. So had Ritzu, actually. That didn't help to calm Niko's nerves.

"Was Chikara a Pretty Cure?"

Sollari seemed to have to think about that.

"I don't know, ari."  
Of course.

"I do know that she has some connection with the previous Pretty Cure of this world, ari. Cure Star, ari."

Niko looked back at the compact.

"What will I be?" she asked.

"That is up to you, ari," Sollari answered.

For a second, no one moved.

"What do I do?"

Niko didn't take her eyes off the compact.  
"You make your choice, ari. You either become a Pretty Cure, or you do not, ari. It is not my decision to make, ari."

"But you sought me out."

"You are our last hope, ari."

Niko shook her head.

"That's what that Ritzu guy said too. I don't want to be anyone's saviour. I just want to be strong enough to avenge Chikara."

Sollari looked crestfallen.

"That didn't mean I wouldn't do it, Sollari. I asked, what do I do? How do I activate it?"

"Oh, uh, right, ari!" Sollari leaped up, rehearsed answers all but forgotten. "Um, um, repeat after me, ari! Pretty Cure, ari!"

Niko pressed the compact to her chest, then opened the compact. Three buttons were inside - red, green, and blue. Another jewel was inset above them, pure white.

"Pretty Cure!" Niko caught her eye in the small mirror. Three tiny pink stars shone in her gaze. A star outline appeared on the mirror, glowing softly pink.

"Infinity Reflection, ari!"

"Infinity-" Niko pressed the buttons from left to right. With each button press, a corresponding color of light shone through the jewel, flashing three times before glowing a bright white.

"Reflection!" The star shape on the mirror blinked three times with a soft tone before the jewel turned a pink color. The mirror itself shone white, a bolt of light emerging from the mirror's lense.

The light shot towards her like a comet, her free hand grabbing the light and spinning with it, watching the trail spin around her body.

Without warning, the ribbon-like spiral Niko had made filled into a white amorphous shape as she kicked herself back into the air, fitting to her school uniform and creating a shimmering pink dress.

Niko snapped the compact closed, and pressed it to her chest with both hands. She bent backwards, feeling as if she was swimming in air. Almost reacting to her movements, the dress solidified into a dark pink leotard.

A robe-like cloak materialized above Niko, and she slipped her arms into each sleeve, pulling the cloak around her.

Light swirled around her waist, and a dark pink skirt appeared, white tulle filling in the space.

Niko took one step in the air, staying perfectly upright without any visible floor, a far cry from when she was floating with Sollari. She twirled with a small grin on her face, and the small sparks that appeared when she stepped in the air swirled around her ankles and calves, creating silver boots.

Niko grabbed first her right wrist, then her left, 'shaping" bracelets of white light that became silver accessories.

The compact flew open of its own volition, another bolt of white light bursting into the air. This one, however, exploded like a firework into a hail of sparkles.

Niko pulled out her ponytail and let her hair flow.

Defying most laws of physics and matter, Niko's hair lengthened in the blink of an eye, sparkles cascading down it and bleaching it pure white. Part of her hair gathered in a side ponytail, a pink orb keeping it in place.

Compact now closed, Niko pressed it to her chest, and blinked and smiled in surprise when it merged with her cloak so that only the star shape was visible. White light surged from the star shape, a silver cape flowing around her.

Niko closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them. Nothing appeared different to her this time, but she knew something had changed.

It appeared tiny star-shaped earrings had appeared on her ears, and that was all.

The pink light around her began to dissolve into bright sparkles as her transformation finished.

"The promise of meaning in the stars!"

Niko didn't know why she'd started speaking, but the pure hatred in Ritzu's eyes fueled her words.

"Cure Celestial!"

She walked towards Ritzu, leftover light still glowing around her.

"With the power of courage and the light of hope, I will be your opponent today."

Her script stopped there, and Niko came out of autopilot barely a foot away from someone - something that wanted her dead.

Celestial was vaguely aware of Sollari's concerned gaze on her. Niko was not.

But they were the same person. And right now, Niko played the part of Celestial, guardian of Earth and the stars above.

 _Thanks, Sollari_.

 **I'm here to guide you, after all.**

Cure Celestial took a deep breath, still glaring at Ritzu, who seemed very much like a enraged bird at this moment.

"Cure Celestial," they said, as if they were trying the name out on their lips. "Not one I've heard of before."

Ignoring Celestial, Ritzu faced Sollari, who was still a few feet away.

"Did this one even make it out of training, messenger? I hope so. I don't want another one of your rejects."

Sollari shivered.

"Training?"

The question escaped before Celestial realized she had said it. Ritzu snapped back to look at her.

And then they started to laugh.

"You didn't train her at all, did you, _messenger_? This is how desperate you are? Your hope was just some earth girl with pink stardrops?"

The laughter stopped dead, and Ritzu sneered.

"Pathetic."

They lunged, and the fight was on.

One of the spindly dark arms from earlier now carried a rapier, thrusting towards her from out of Ritzu's wing. Celestial planted her feet and slid to the side of it.

Two more thrusts in quick succession, appearing to go for where the Solar Compact had merged with her chest. On the third, Celestial clasped her hands and grabbed the rapier.

She allowed herself a moment's satisfaction with the surprised look on Ritzu's face, then hardened and attempted to twist the sword out of their hand.

Ritzu quickly caught on, however, and slid the rapier out of her hands, leaving red cuts in the process. Celestial hissed in pain.

Well, if tactics weren't her strong point-!

Celestial rushed towards Ritzu, dodging the swings of the sword and drawing back a fist.

Was her fist glowing pink? She gave it a moment's thought before she slammed the fist into Ritzu's chest.

Ritzu was thrown back quite a ways. Celestial stared at her fist in surprise.

"You have the power of the stars, ari!" Celestial turned to see Sollari, eyes sparkling with pride. "This is far beyond what humans can do, ari!" The bunny alien jumped into her arms, nuzzling up against her chest.

Celestial wasn't relaxed just yet.

"What do I do now?" she asked. "Everything I've managed has been mostly surprise attacks. I don't think I can beat this guy one-on-one."

"Ritzu is...formidable, ari. We will have to force them to retreat, ari."

"How?"

Speak of the devil, and he will appear. A shadow passing over Celestial caused her to look up, and it appeared Ritzu's wings weren't just for show.

Celestial jumped backwards, conversation forgotten in the panic of getting-the-hell-out-of-there mode.

It took a few seconds before she realized she wasn't going down.

"Sollari?"

"Yes, ari?"

"Does that power of the stars apply to everything?"

"Yes, ari."

Celestial was suddenly very high up, and the ground was very far below her.

"I'm afraid of heights, Sollari."

"It'll be okay, ari. The stars will protect you, ari."

Celestial began to fall.

Squeezing Sollari to her chest, the wind whipping around her, only one thing came to her mind.

"I don't think I signed up for this!"

Feet first never seemed like a good landing idea, but the vague "power of the stars" seemed to be helping her with that.

Aside from sliding backwards across the dirt, Celestial appeared to be unharmed overall, despite falling from a ridiculous height.

Unfortunately, Ritzu also seemed to have recovered from the few attacks Celestial had managed.

"Sollari, if you have a plan, I'd love to hear of it!"

"We have to purify them, ari! Ritzu won't be able to stand that light for long, ari!"

"Alright!"

Celestial rushed forward once again, this time swerving to the side and punching Ritzu in the ribs. Well, where the ribs would be on a human.

Ritzu seemed unfazed, flapping his wings and knocking Celestial back.

"Repeat after me, ari!"

"Got it!"

She pushed herself up from the grass, ready to try again.

"Pretty Cure, ari!"

"Pretty Cure!"

Her Solar Compact began to glow softly with white light.

Ritzu jabbed their sword forward once more, Celestial jumped over it this time, doing all she could to keep herself at a reasonable altitude.

That, however, meant she missed whatever Sollari had said. Celestial attempted to copy the word as best she could.

"Silver!"

The Solar Compact shone bright.

A punch to Ritzu, and they were pushed back once more. Celestial drew an orb of light out of the Solar Compact. She clapped, and the light separated into a mass of sparkles.

Celestial smiled.

"Vortex!"

Celestial flung her hands forward, and the rain of sparkles followed. Swirling together, they created a bolt of light, not unlike what transformed Celestial in the first place.

The light enveloped Ritzu, creating orbiting rings around them.

Celestial turned away, and pumped her fist into the air.

"Liftoff!"

Behind her, the rings focused into a single point.

And then exploded.

Clenching her eyes shut against the harsh light, Celestial heard Sollari's voice in her head once more. This time, it was more halting than usual.

 **The Pretty Cure of courage and hope…**

And then, it was as if Sollari was whispering. Celestial didn't miss a word.

 **My Pretty Cure. Cure Celestial.**

" _Liftoff!"_

The girl on top of a building overlooking the park squinted.

Even from here, the light was still incredibly bright.

She squeezed her hands into fists.

There was undeniably a surge of happiness, of _hope_ bubbling up within her, but she willed it to stay suppressed.

Any wrong moves, and her transformation would burst just like that singular bubble of hope. She had kept it for so long - she couldn't lose it now. Not without Lune.

Not after what they had done for her.

" _With the power of courage and the light of hope, I will be your opponent today!"_

Yet...she wasn't alone anymore.

Cure Star would allow herself to believe that. No matter how unlikely it was to last.


	3. Chapter 3

It was almost the end of first block when the sky exploded.

The sky lit up with pink light, then white, then a luminous gold. With it came a _rumble,_ not unlike thunder.

"What the hell?"

Madison had barely gotten the question out before the ground began to shake.

The students of Keres Preparatory reacted exactly as high schoolers usually react: with sudden panic and yelling.

Earthquake drills weren't often practiced at Keres, but students began to dive under their desks regardless. Covering her head as best she could, Madison noticed her phone begin to vibrate from where it was stored within her pocket.

She slipped it out to peek at it, just in case it was her parents or something.

Call incoming from Niko: Pick up?

"Oh my god," Madison mouthed. Niko still wasn't at school. She could be hurt.

But there was nothing she could do. The phone went on buzzing in her pocket, and Madison just waited for the quake to finish.

The earthquake stilled as quickly as it had begun.

"Please excuse the interruption," the loudspeaker crackled. "We are asking all students and faculty to stay inside the building. Authorities have been called. Once again, please stay inside the building…."

Cautiously, students began to peak out from their haphazard shelters. Aria met Madison's eyes as she sat down in her desk once more, fear in her eyes. Her friend was rigidly still, making no moves to talk or really do anything.

An unnatural stillness had settled over the classroom. Madison kept one hand on her phone, slowly walking over to her friend.

Aria's dark blue eyes were wide, and she seemed paler than usual. Her hand ran through her dark auburn hair, but still, she didn't make a sound.

"Dude," Madison said as calmly as she could manage. "You okay?"

"Niko call you too?" Ah, so she was getting straight to that.

"Yeah," she said with a nod. "Hope she's alright."

"I picked up," Aria continued. "She told me to wait for her."

"The hell does that mean?"

"I don't really know. I could barely hear her."

The two of them stood in silence.

"I mean, do we call back?"

Aria shook her head.

"Already tried. The signal's all messed up after that quake, and they're not gonna be letting us out of the classroom."

Their classmates had begun to chat as well, but it was a lot more stilted than usual. Everyone had some sort of anxiety or at least apprehension hanging over them.

The sky above Keres hadn't flashed like that in six months. Madison tried not to think about the implications of that.

There was a pause.

"It's all good!" Madison declared, a little bit too loudly. Aria looked at her quizzically.

"You know Niko wouldn't be kept down by a little quake like that. Not like I would either, but we can't be sulking 'bout it."

Aria nodded, but there was still doubt in her eyes.

"At least something goddamn happened at this school. Good. I was getting real bored, you know?"

Aria finally seemed to relax.

"Yeah," she said with a small grin.

Madison made a move to grab her hand, and Aria let her. She gave it a small squeeze.

"C'mon, Aria. You look better smiling."

It was true, but it didn't stop Aria's cheeks turning bright pink. Madison laughed.

They just had to keep their minds off what had happened. A sky flashing followed by a quake should never be thought about in Keres.

It had happened three times before, Madison realized. But she _couldn't_ think about that, or what it meant, or anything.

She had to keep Aria grounded, and keep herself there with her.

Niko was gonna be fine, she told herself. It was a small quake, and no one got hurt. Once she showed up, Madison would protect her.

Cause she wouldn't let herself lose anyone else.

And as flashing fire trucks pulled up to Luros Preparatory, Madison thought she was safe.

Until the door slammed open.

Aria's day was tenuous enough as it is before the alien attacked her class.

Everything had happened so fast, she barely had had time to react.

Go over it, she told herself. Replay it, and you can help.

A darkened figure had slammed the door open. It was distinctively non-human, with dark blue skin, four milky white eyes, and strange antennae that bunched around their head like hair, lilac bulbs hanging from the ends.

Their arms were snug inside an oddly normal white hoodie.

No one had screamed. It was like the breath had been stolen from their lungs, like a heavy silence was crushing them.

Aria knew why. The sky had flashed, then something non-human, and it was horrifyingly familiar all at once.

But there had been no time for memories.

The alien had clicked, and smiled, showing grey teeth and small fangs, then it had rushed Aria.

She had just stood there, brain trying to catch up.

Madison had turned and punched it. The alien reeled, but smiled.

Then it had shouted something, something punctuated with clicks and hisses, but still strangely _English_.

" _Crystal • Absolution!"_

The alien had made a little heart or something with her hands as she said it, and clapped, and then the whole world was frozen.

In an instant, there was crystalline ice everywhere.

That's why Aria couldn't move. She didn't _feel_ frozen, she _was_ frozen. Her legs were frozen. She was frozen from the chest down.

She should be worried, Aria knew, but she was having trouble thinking for some reason.

 **Breathe.**

Something sharp stabbed through her head. Aria's eyes fluttered open and she took a deep breath, everything coming back into focus.

What was that?

 **Scan your surroundings. Stay focused.**

Aria's head pounded, but she kept her eyes open.

If there was one thing she could do, it was figure out how she could help.

Madison was finally beginning to stop struggling. She was still breathing heavily, but her feet were now solidly frozen, and she wasn't going to be moving anytime soon.

Just like the rest of her classmates. Some were frozen completely. Madison seemed to be the last one to start freezing.

This wasn't good.

 **Just hold on. Just hold on.**

Were thoughts usually this intrusive?

"Alright, alright, so that _isn't_ the girl. Stardrops are still one color, though. Just like the other one."

Aria's attention was pulled back to reality.

The alien was arguing to some sort of heart that had been hanging from her hip before. Now, it was lifted up to her face, and Aria swore she could see someone in it.

A bunch of mumbling Aria couldn't understand, and the alien hissed.

"Come _on_. I could kill them anyway." A pause. "Drain them, kill them, same thing. They ain't struggling anyway."

Madison yelled something incomprehensible through her anger. Something about ripping her to shreds for touching Aria.

Sounded like Madison.

"You're a killjoy, you know that? I don't _care_ if she kicked your ass - and yes, she did, that's what retreating means, Ritzu - I want to drain _something_ today. If that means draining a boring old high schooler, I don't give a single-" The voice cut off into a crackling hiss, sounding oddly like laughter.

Madison growled again. The alien almost seemed to roll their eyes.

"You shut up. What a pain," she said the second bit to the violet heart, looking completely disinterested. "Orange stardrops. Anger. Nothing important."

They listened for a bit, Aria straining to understand even a fragment of the other half of the conversation.

"The other one's blue, like the other one was. Compassion or empathy, right? Gross."

The alien frowned during the next pause.

"Yeah, I _know_ they should have more than one color! That's the weird bit! Do you not listen to a word I say or-" they were quickly cut off. "What do you mean, that's what the girl had."

 **Run.**

Aria winced.

The ice around her didn't seem to show any sign of breaking. This wasn't good.

"No, Ritzu. You listen to _me_. What do you mean, that's what the Pretty Cure had?"

Madison stopped dead in her struggling. Aria met her eyes.

"Pretty Cure," Madison mouthed.

Aria couldn't have missed those words even if she had wanted to.

Another Pretty Cure. Another one. And Madison and Aria were caught in the middle yet again.

 **No, you won't be. Just run.**

The pounding of Aria's headache cleared for just a moment.

This seemed too familiar.

"These girls are...potential Pretty Cure? Like _they_ were? Can't be." The alien looked at Madison with a shocked look on her face. It almost appeared to be fear.

"Yeah, yeah, I believe you. It's just...they're so much weaker than them. It's almost sad. ...What? No, I'm not scared!"

Madison went to struggle again, but her fear was written all over her face.

"They're children, Ritzu. If I can't drain a few children, I'd rather kill myself."

Aria breathed in and out. It was going to be okay. It had to be okay.

Something almost like courage swelled up inside her.

"Right," she affirmed to the heart. "I'll bring them in. Then you can do what you want with the bodies."

Bodies.

Aria's courage left her in an instant.

The alien's eyes flicked over to Aria.

"Blue," she muttered. "Blue again."

She smiled, grey fangs sliding over her lips.

"Sorry to cut this short, but.." The next words came out in a hiss that made Aria shiver.

" _It's time to say goodbye._ "

 **No.**

Aria and her thoughts were in unison.

 _ **No!**_

"SPARKLING-"

The window shattered, glass raining down on the frozen students.

Aria screamed, attempting to move her crystallized hands to cover her head, but they wouldn't budge.

The significantly less frozen Madison managed to cover herself, but shards still sliced her arms, leaving bright red trails in their wake.

Was that...a person who had crashed through the window?

"IMPACT!"

A fist coated in blindingly yellow energy smashed into the heart the alien was holding.

The person landed, breathing heavily.

They turned to face Aria, and-

No.

No, no, no.

"RUN!"

It couldn't be.

Even as the frost creeping up her neck flaked off, as the crystals broke around her, Aria didn't want to believe what was happening.

Because although she had changed, even though she had a black mask and cloak on, Aria could see the yellow and blue and pink that had been her last glimpse of normality six months ago.

"You have to RUN!" shouted Cure Star.

Aria felt like she was going to vomit.

"ARIA!"

Madison wrenched Aria's arm, pulling her out of the last vestiges of crystal encompassing her feet.

And Aria ran.

"You," hissed the alien.

"Me," affirmed Cure Star.

Blinding yellow light shone behind Aria, but she didn't notice. She had to run.

Rune was a kuriline, and a proud one at that.

Her greatest achievement had been the capture of Cure Star's fairy, Lune.

In fact, that's why she changed her codename to Rune. She had surpassed the moon, and she would place herself above it.  
To see Cure Star herself standing there, more determined than ever...it was an _insult_.

Of course Rune knew she had escaped. Ritzu had almost killed the Trinity for it.

But the fact that she had survived the escape attempt, that was an infuriating thought.

"You look different, _Cure Star_. Did Nebulous truly break you that badly?"

Cure Star did not falter.

"You look different as well, Crystal. Oh, sorry, Rune. I can't keep all your identity crises straight."

Rune hissed in response. Cure Star smirked.

The tension was thick in the air as they stood. Star was buying time for the two proteges she freed, Rune knew. But it was useless. Ritzu would find them before long, and there would be no bodies left.

"So we going to do this, or-?" Rune was cut off by Cure Star rushing towards her, fist already glowing with yellow energy.

Rune dodged effortlessly, and grinned.

"Perfect," she hissed.

Channeling energy to her hands, Rune froze the ground under Cure Star.

Star skidded to the side, punching the ground to destroy the crystals underneath. She was wasting precious time, mused Rune.

Rune slashed Star's face with small violet claws. Red blood ran down her face.

"Sparkling Impact!" she called, striking Rune in the gut. Air rushed out of her, leaving Rune gasping slightly.

That hurt. That _always_ hurt.

"Don't get cocky," Rune snarled. A blast of energy from her hands, and Star was pushed back, crashing into awfully mundane shelves.

Cure Star's eyes darted to a frozen human next to her.

Ah, human weakness. How pitiful.

But she'd break the humans in front of the Pretty Cure later. Right now, she had to break _her_.

A crystal staff formed out of nothing for Rune to grasp. She rushed forward, expecting to meet Cure Star's sword as she had done so many times in the past-

The staff struck Star across her face, slamming her into the wall. She winced as she opened her eyes and steadied herself.

"What's the matter, Cure Star?" Rune mocked. "Don't think I'm worth the effort today?"

Cure Star breathed heavily, violet eyes narrow.

Rune loved this. The anger, the fear, the frustration - it was all so much fun to see them break apart.

It was almost sad to see her greatest challenge flake so easily, though. She guessed that was just how it was after they had tortured her half to death. It was a shame.

Though, the torture _had_ been fun.

Rune supposed she could always do it again. At that thought, she grinned.

Cure Star was muttering something.

"Sword," she mumbled. "Moonlight Sword. Moonlight Sword, come to me."

Nothing happened.

"Lune, please," she pleaded. "Lune, I'm sorry. Please. Moonlight Sword, come to me…"

Aw, she was calling out for her fairy. How touching.

"And how many times have you tried that?" Rune asked, triumphant. "Your fairy is nothing anymore, Cure Star. They are a shell of their former self."

A second staff materialized. Rune scraped them across the floor as she walked towards Star.

"Just like you," she crowed.

Cure Star laughed.

"Maybe I am," Star said. "But that's okay."

"Pretty Cure!"

What was that voice? Rune didn't recognize it at all!

"Silver….!"

Cure Star met her gaze triumphantly.

"Cure Celestial can take my place."

"VORTEX!"

Light.

Blinding, horrifying, shining pink light.

Ritzu had said something, before Star had interrupted everything.

"The messenger found their hope."

That cryptic bitch, Rune thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Madison didn't calm down until she reached her house.

Her brother wasn't home yet from his job. Good. She didn't need questions about coming home early.

Well, there was an earthquake. He wouldn't have questioned it much anyway, she supposed.

She had almost forgot about that, hadn't she?

Cure Star. She had seen Cure Star. It had been six months, and Cure Star was alive.

That was a...terrifying thought.

She'd covered up her outfit. A black cloak covered her teal and pink bodice, long sleeves hiding white puffy cuffs and white gloves. She still had the dark blue and pink ribbons holding up blond pigtails, though.

The thing Madison had noticed the most, though, was the black cloth acting as a mask. It had been useless, but if Madison didn't know better…

Cure Star didn't want people to know she existed.

Madison lay on her bed, staring up at nothing.

Her ankles felt numb, as if there was still phantom ice encasing her feet. Small cuts peppered her arms, most likely from the glass that had fallen on her.

God, Aria's _face_ when she had saw Cure Star. The two of them had been scared by the alien, sure, but Cure Star - Cure Star had scared them more than any stranger could have.

Was that really so surprising? The Pretty Cure had appeared out of nowhere, changed their lives battling monsters and "protecting" people.

And then, when everyone thought things could be normal again…

People had taken video of the event. People had quietly taken it down from the internet, over the months, because no one wanted to watch that.

Outside of Keres, no one believed what had happened.

Inside of Keres, no one remembered what had happened, really. Everyone just shoved the memories away, and never touched them.

And now she was back. Alive.

The only one who had survived.

Madison just wanted to sleep. No, scratch that, she wanted to wake up and make everything that had happened that day a bad dream.

The clock ticked over to 11:35. The day was not even halfway over.

Madison groaned and rolled over to her side.

She couldn't think about what had happened. Just push it out, push it away-

No.

If the world insisted on bringing it back to haunt her, Madison would make them regret it.

They were going to _regret it_.

Just as she felt herself drifting off to a fitful sleep, Madison forced herself awake.

There was a journal stashed in the very bottom of her desk drawer. Madison hadn't touched it in months.

So she pushed herself off her bed and went to sit at her desk.

 _The world was going to regret it._

 _8/20/12_

 _High school! Woo!_

 _It's not that much different from middle school yet, actually. I miss all my friends already…_

 _But it's not like I came here alone! There are some really nice kids here!_

 _There's one girl named Angela in the grade above me. What a cool name, right? She's super cool, and I hope we get to be friends!_

 _8/25/12_

 _Ugh, homework is the worst!_

 _Like, it's the first week! So I'm spending my weekend messing with a bunch of syllabuses. Syllabi?_

 _Nevermind! It's stupid, and this homework is stupid._

 _Least Angela's gonna help me with it. We have the same free block! Isn't that cool?_

 _9/4/12_

 _Me and Angela went out for snacks today! It was really cool! Though she had to go really early._

 _I think I might need more than one friend. Everyone else seems to have their groups already, and I'm just...me._

 _But it'll be okay! I know I can change!_

 _10/11/12_

 _I haven't written in here for a while, have I?_

 _Uh, me and Angela aren't as close friends anymore. It's not like anything bad happened! She's just...really busy. But it's gonna be fine, I'll find more friends!_

 _Halloween's coming up, isn't it? It'll be great!_

 _10/31/12_

 _I went to a party. I don't really want to talk about it._

 _I think I don't like crowds very much._

 _11/3/12_

 _I joined a after-school martial arts thing! There's a girl a few years below me in here, and she's really cool!_

 _Her name's Chikara Oshiro. She's really strong!_

 _I mean it! I kinda still have bruises from when we sparred…_

 _11/22/12_

 _Chikara came over to my house for Thanksgiving! Not really sure why, cause she didn't want to tell me._

 _But it's cool! We had a great time, and ate pie, and ice cream, and my stomach hurts._

 _I have martial arts tomorrow though. I think Chikara's gonna beat me up!_

 _12/18/12_

 _It'd be really weird to have a crush on your best friend, right?_

 _Like, especially if she's a girl. That'd be weird, right?_

 _Cause I keep looking at Chikara when she's sparring. She's getting really buff, actually! When we spar outside of class, she doesn't wear the uniform, so I can see her shoulders and arms and stuff._

 _She's really pretty._

 _It's probably just a friend thing._

 _12/26/12_

 _She came over today to check out my gifts. We played the Wii U all day._

 _I made her laugh so hard she fell off the couch._

 _Her laugh is pretty, too._

 _I don't think it's a friend thing._

 _1/1/13_

 _Happy New Year!_

 _Another friend came over to my house today. She's one of Chikara's friends, actually!_

 _Her best friend!_

 _I think her name was Niko Andros?_

 _2/14/13_

 _I think Chikara likes Niko more than she likes me._

 _That would make sense, wouldn't it?_

 _I mean, I'm in high school, and Niko's in eighth grade like her, and it should make sense…_

 _So I shouldn't be sad, right?_

 _We're still best friends. It's okay._

 _I gave her white chocolate. It's her favourite._

 _She got me a pack of mochi. It was delicious._

 _3/15/13_

 _Some people at school think I'm weird for always hanging out with middle schoolers._

 _Lucky for them, I don't care what they think._

 _Unluckily for them, Chikara does._

 _One of the guys who goes to our martial arts class went home with a broken nose today._

 _Chikara is suspended from the class for a week._

 _5/3/13_

 _Finals are the worst! But at least I have Chikara and Niko._

 _They're my best friends. Niko's pretty cool, but Chikara…  
She's so pretty, you know? Her hair, and her eyes, and her laugh, and everything._

 _We went out today for pity milkshakes after a super hard math test._

 _We ate fries, and Chikara burned her tongue, and we doused the fries in enough salt that Niko made a face while we ate them!_

 _I'm really happy. Really, really happy._

 _6/7/13_

 _I have to remember that this journal exists!_

 _Well, it's summer vacation now. I went to the beach with Chikara today!_

 _Did you know we have nicknames for each other now? Chikara calls me J instead of Juli!_

 _I call her Kara._

 _Niko doesn't have a nickname yet. Her name's kinda hard after all!_

 _6/20/13_

 _I think Niko thinks I don't like her._

 _She's got two new friends now, Madison and Aria._

 _How do I tell her that I like her?_

 _Yeah, Chikara really_ really _likes her, but I don't think she knows. So I can't be mad._

 _It isn't her fault. It's no one's fault but my own for being really stupid._

 _6/30/13_

 _Niko isn't answering my calls._

 _Chikara says something happened._

 _No one will tell me anything. I feel so useless._

 _7/7/13_

 _I got to write this down, because I don't think I can tell anyone about this._

 _I know what happened to Niko. It's happening to a lot of people, all over._

 _Her memories of me got stolen._

 _I know, I know it sounds stupid, but you have to listen._

 _There's someone, no, some_ thing _here._

 _There's a little bat sitting in my room. Their name is Lune._

 _I'm not crazy, I swear._

 _They want me to become something called Pretty Cure and fight against these villains - "the Outer Limits"._

 _Apparently what they do is steal people's memories with happiness attached to them. No, more than happiness. Love._

 _They take the memories and change them into monsters known as Seikais. The people with stolen memories will never know what was taken from them, that their corrupted love is hurting others._

 _Unless I help._

 _Corrupted love..._

 _You know what?_

 _I think Niko liked me after all._

 _7/8/13_

 _I did it. I became a Pretty Cure._

 _I'm Cure Star. Colors blinking in the sky, rays of justice that shine down below._

 _I'm coated in pink, actually. A big pink skirt, and a light pink bodice, and red ribbons, and white cuffs and gloves...it's kinda ridiculous. I like it._

 _I can't do this alone, Lune says. They're saying I need a partner._

 _Lune says I'm the pink Pretty Cure, the leader. I need a partner, a blue Pretty Cure._

 _I know exactly who to find._

 _7/15/13_

 _It took a while, but I did it._

 _Chikara Oshiro, my best friend in the whole world, is a Pretty Cure._

 _Cure Aster. Feathers dancing in the sky, sparking light refracting off of them._

 _We're unstoppable together._

 _There's nothing we can't do._

 _7/30/13_

 _I'm happier than I've been in a long time._

 _The two of us are Pretty Cure.  
We're _famous _. There's merchandise of us, and a manga, and plushies, and it's just like! Wow!_

 _We can go so fast, and so high, and my heart pounds so much when I'm Pretty Cure with Aster!_

 _I never want to detransform! I wish I could be with Aster like this forever!_

 _So we're gonna fight the Seikais, and defeat evil, and love ourselves, and it's gonna be great!_

 _I'm so happy!_

 _8/14/13_

 _Things are getting hard. The Seikais are becoming stronger, and we don't know why._

 _Lune says it's time for a new Pretty Cure. I suggested Niko. We haven't found her memories yet, but I'm sure we can._

 _Lune says no. Turning a victim of the Outer Limits into a Pretty Cure without their memories being restored could hurt them._

 _There's a new girl in our martial arts class._

 _We don't go a lot anymore, but she sticks out._

 _Her name is Kasumi Mitasha._

 _I think she's perfect!_

 _8/30/13_

 _We can't do this much longer._

 _We're going to go ask her tomorrow to help us._

 _9/1/13_

 **[the page is scribbled out in black marker.]**

 _9/13/13_

 **[the page is wet. Only parts of the page are legible.]**

 _..ave to….save them. I'm…rry. ...o, so, sorry._

 _...kara, I'll aveng…_

 _..chang...orm. L….different. Colorful._

 _I don't care any….e._

 _Fuck all of them._

… _..ko, everyo..._

 **[The rest of the book is empty.]**  
~

Cure Star and Cure Aster. The Starlight Duo.

Cure Star was pink. Red ribbons in her hair, rosy glasses, sparkling purple eyes...she was an icon.

When Cure Aster joined, they became superheroes. Cure Aster was blue, an almost poncho-like coat draped over her in contrast to Star's almost ballet-like attire.

The two of them were heroes. Heroes of light, and justice, and love.

And she was to take their place? No way.

Niko crashed on her bed, breathing heavily.

For a first day as the Starlight Duo's replacement, it was pretty heavy.

After driving away Ritzu, she had been approached by a girl completely covered in a black cloak.

" _This way,"_ she had said. " _They attacked two places. We have to move quickly._ "

She had jumped just as high as Celestial, ran just as fast. If it wasn't for her unassuming outfit, Niko would have thought she was Pretty Cure.

Sollari hadn't supplied any answers. In fact, they had stayed almost eerily silent the entire time.

The girl had stayed far ahead the entire time, and Celestial had eventually lost track of her. That was, until Sollari had spoken up for the first time.

" _That girl...that girl feels like Lune, ari_." They had mumbled. " _I can sense her, ari. She's up...up ahead, ari."_

Sollari had seemed scared. Niko hadn't really thought about it much.

Finally, they had made it to Niko's school. Niko didn't want to think about why they had attacked _her_ school - it had to be a coincidence, right? They weren't actively looking for her, only Sollari, right?

The girl had been thrown against a wall, that much Niko could see through the shattered window.

There were kids, frozen in what looked like crystal - Niko's classmates. Madison and Aria could have been in there, frozen just like the rest.

Something had snapped inside Celestial at that thought, and she had blasted the room with a Silver Vortex before she could assess anything.

The girl had smiled, and the only other moving figure had turned to face Celestial with a shocked look.

Sollari said her name was Rune. Something called a kuriline? A shapeshifter that could store energy in her antenna's bulbs.

That hadn't mattered in the moment, though. Everything had been swallowed by pink light. The Silver Vortex had been so much _stronger_ than before, stronger than the power Niko thought she had as Celestial.

It was scary, she had thought.

Then she had woken up, detransformed, in her room.

Niko had panicked for a bit, wondering if she had dreamed it all, but no. Sollari was there.

They had said the girl had earlier had picked Niko up after she fainted from using too much energy, and taken her back here.

How she knew where Niko lived, Sollari had no clue. They said they had never seen her before.

What a day, Niko thought bitterly. Fight one bird man, chase after another, and then faint.

She didn't think she was really cut out to replace the Starlight Duo, but Niko supposed there wasn't much of a choice. At least it was kind of fun, having the freedom and the power to do anything.

"Sollari?" The messenger fairy's ears perked up before they turned to face Niko.

"You mentioned Cure Star, but never Cure Aster. Why?"

Sollari blinked.

"Who's Cure Aster, ari?"

That couldn't be right.

Before the fall of everything, of everyone, there was merchandise made. Niko still had some - she was one of the few to not throw it away or burn it or anything.

A plushie here, a toy Moonlit Sword there, but there wasn't a lot of merch Niko had with Aster on it, although she was her favorite.

There. A pencil case with stylized versions of the cures, posing happily. Niko pulled it out of the heap of supplies it lay on and showed it to Sollari.

"The blue one. There."

Sollari looked up at Niko with wide eyes.

"I've never seen either of those cures before, ari."

Niko started to feel sick.

"Then...what do you mean by Cure Star?"

Sollari looked up, perfectly serene.

"The yellow one, ari! With the pink skirt, and blue ribbons, and black boots, ari! Wasn't she the hero of this town, ari? About six months back, ari?"

There had been videos, for a while.

Videos of the town's hero, Cure Star, picking up a girl's body and screaming.

She hugged the girl in the shimmering blue dress, and she screamed, and she was crying.

Then everything had gone, in a flash of yellow light.

And a new Cure Star had stepped out of the wreckage. Pink, and teal, and yellow, and filled with absolute, undying _rage_.

There had been another girl. One with long, dark purple hair, and a heart-shaped locket on her necklace.

The two of them had fought. It had gone on for about an hour when the second girl stopped, anger and fear written all over her face.

She had only said one thing, in the end.

" _Ashen • Absolution_."

All the videos ended there. Every single one.

And when everyone arrived, after the message had broadcasted in their heads, what had they found?

Backpacks. Laptops. School supplies.

The fight had ended in a school.

And the teenagers, eagerly videoing the fight, were never seen again.

That had been the end of the Starlight Duo, and the Seikais, and everything. The second girl was never identified. Cure Star was presumed dead.

And everyone went on with their lives afterward.

"Jesus, it's been a while. Yet this town is still goddamn boring. That's a feat."

A girl in a teal and red hoodie walked up to a coffee cart at seven pm, grinning.

"Yo, whatever your strongest coffee is? Give me that. In a large."

"Huh?" A barista with bobbed pink hair's attention was pulled from cleaning to the mysterious girl.

"I got money. Is this place closed, or…?"

The barista shook her head.

"No, no, we're open! Sorry, was just a bit distracted." She pushed hair out of her eyes, smiling brightly. "Could I get a name?"

"Pretty sure I'm the only one here…" the girl sighed. She shrugged. "Sure, whatever."

"It's Kasumi. Kasumi Mitasha."


	5. Chapter 5

The Outer Limits.

It was as warped as the name suggested. A place that was always moving, outside the boundaries of time and space, but yet eerily, coldly still.

The location could best be described as a moonscape. A cold, rocky ground, refracting dull light upon its inhabitants.

Dark pools of unknown substance dotted the ground. No reflection appeared upon gazing into them, yet the stars twinkled across the pools' surface.

There was only one real landmark of the Outer Limits.

Upon a silver plateau lay a temple, with ominous, angular grey spires that reached to the heavens. Clear prism windows carved a spot in the sides of the temple, a rusted copper bell wearily hanging from the highest tower.

Ritzu stalked their way back to the temple, dark blue wings twitching and a permanent scowl on their face.

Failure was for the Trinity, for Rune and Mercury and Nebulous. Failure was not for Ritzu, the general of the Outer Limits, the messenger of darkness. No, failure was not for them.

Yet there they were, head hung in defeat.

It was humiliating.

 _Humiliating._

The only solace was that Rune had been far more hurt. She had gone ahead to the temple, Ritzu only getting a glimpse of her as she stormed past. Her bulbs had sparked with energy, eyes narrow and hissed curses muttered under her breath.

Ritzu smiled at that. Rune deserved to be knocked down a peg. She was too confident for such a coward.

Rune said there was a reason she had to get back to the temple immediately. Something about crucial information.

Whatever. Rune thought even a hint of potential Pretty Cure energy was crucial.

The wide doors to the temple creaked open as Ritzu's shadow tendrils pushed on them.

The temple was as grey and sordid inside as it was on the outside.

Ashen pews lined the interior, seemingly solid but malleable enough that it could swallow an entire person inside it. They were used to heal for the most part, the darkened ashes of creation fixing injuries in a single night.

They used to be so much better, back when they had light. Back when Nebulous had returned, triumphant, and Ritzu had physical, shining, stardrops.

They had felt like they had won. Cure Star was with them, the Lunar Messenger chained. The world was at their fingertips.

But things were rarely that simple. Either they extracted the spark of a Precure, an almost impossible task to complete without the spark shattering and the Precure dying, or they obtained a Solar Messenger to combine their powers with the Lunar Messenger and create an artificial spark.

Precure were, frustratingly, hard to break.

Ritzu knew that it was a stroke of luck that it had been that particular Solar Messenger that had come, and that it had made such an inexperienced Pretty Cure. But the fact that it had escaped at all enraged them.

No matter what, they had to report it.

Down the aisle, instead of an altar, was a simple heart icon engraved on the floor. The gateway to the universe.

Or, as it was used right now, the gateway to Earth.

Beyond that were several mirrors, gateways to their own pocket dimensions. The Trinity's dimension; Ritzu's own, where the Lunar Messenger was chained; and their leader's.  
The Everlasting.

Ritzu paused as one of their hands' fingertips grazed the rippling surface. They had failed, for the first time in a long while. It would not be fun to admit it.

They mused if they should attempt to avoid it.

And then Rune jumped out of the mirror straight into them.

Ritzu fell onto the ground, a tangle of feathers and arms with Rune's lithe body. She screeched in a hiss, pounding on Ritzu's chest until she successfully slipped out of the mess she had made.

"Watch it!" she hissed, standing up and fixing her antennae.

"I'm not the one who wasn't looking through the goddamn mirror," Ritzu muttered. They sighed. "Why were you even in the Everlasting's dimension, Rune? Nothing happened to you that didn't happen to me."

Rune narrowed her eyes.

"I doubt that."

"Then what happened, _Rune_? I'm your boss, you need to report to me." Ritzu knew they were playing up their own role, but Rune could be irritatingly cocky at times.

Of course, she was irritating at all times.

"I was attacked."

Ritzu would have raised an eyebrow if they weren't under their mask.

"By Cure Star."

Oh.

Rune straightened herself, pleased with Ritzu's reaction, and stormed off towards the Trinity's mirror.

"Rune, wait, iri-!" Ritzu tried to cut themselves off before the tic escaped them, but it was already out.

Rune turned, a puzzled look on her face.

"What did you just say?"

Ah, so she had heard that. Ritzu held up a shadowy hand.

"Don't." Ritzu shook their head violently. "Not the point."

"Then what is the point?"

Ritzu sighed.

"Get Nebulous. Tell her to take the spark by any means necessary."

Rune looked unconvinced.

"If she does it wrong, the Cure will die, you know."

Ritzu scowled. They felt rage bubbling up within them. Cure Star. _Cure Star_.

There was only one thing that the Outer Limits needed to return to strength. It wasn't the spark.

"I want Cure Star _dead_. I want to see her corpse, Rune. I don't care if we get the spark or not. Besides…"

They thought back to the pink light, the slight tremor of the earth, and a silver cape and golden eyes.

"We don't need her anymore."

It was two days after the attack on the school when Madison felt it.

The sting in her head, a pain that pounded through her own skull. Just like...just like what had happened with the alien.

 _I know you're listening,_ she thought.

 **Madison?**

That hadn't been the response she was expecting. Madison jolted upright in her bed, her head banging against her bedframe in surprise.

The school was still shut, investigating the attack. Madison doubted they'd find anything, but she stayed home at the request of her brother.

"I think you're a magnet for this kind of stuff," he had joked. Madison had laughed at the time.

Though really, it seemed he wasn't far off.

 _Focus,_ she told herself.

"How do you know my name?" she asked aloud.

 **A friend told me. Her name is Cure Celestial, and she wants you to be careful.**

"How would this Cure Celestial know my name?" Madison replied, more talking to herself than the voice.

 **That's a bit more complicated. Please, I need you to promise me something.**

"Why?"

 **I know you're reasonable, and it's been fine for two days already, but...just stay where you are. Don't go outside, don't draw attention to yourself.**

Madison blinked. What the hell?

 **I know you're confused, and it's understandable. But I can't risk it -** _ **we**_ **can't risk it. Not you and Aria. If they got you, they could…**

"Who's they?!" she blurted. God, she hated this vague nonsense! It was always vague whenever she needed answers.

 **Nebulous is here. She wants stardrops, and she's looking for you, Aria, and...one other person.**

Madison had an uncanny feeling that she knew exactly who the third person was.

"Does she think we're Pretty Cure or something?" The words had barely left her before she realized how ridiculous she sounded. Pretty Cure? Her and Aria? Please.

Like they had that kind of world-changing power.

 **Yes.** **Because you** _ **could**_ **be.**

Madison's jaw actually dropped. It was cliche and she knew it, but there was no other real reaction.

 **Cure Celestial will do her best to keep you two safe so it doesn't come to that. Until then, stay inside.**

 **We have to track down Cure Star**.

And with that perfect bombshell, the ache left her. The voice was gone.

Fantastic.

"Cure Celestial." Madison tested the name. It didn't give her the _dread_ that Cure Star did, but there was still something there. An air of distrust.

Well, if they were tracking down Cure Star - to join with her? To fight her? - Madison couldn't stay still.

Cure Star had saved _her_. Her and Aria. It had to be for a reason.

Like hell Madison was going to stay safe. The danger either came to her, or she sought it out.

And today was a day for seeking out danger.

Aria probably should have listened to the voice in her head.

Ah, this was a stupid idea. The voice had said to her, don't go back to the school, someone named Cure Celestial will be there looking for Cure Star-

But Aria had stopped listening at that point. Cure Star. She wanted to see Cure Star again.

Cure Celestial wasn't here, though. Neither was Cure Star.

Instead there was a girl sitting on the edge of the gym roof, sipping a coffee.

With a teal hoodie with a bright red heart on it, a faded purple skirt, it should all be normal and plain on a girl. But the girl had dark, faded red eyes and long violet hair, giving her an unnatural air.

It was similar to the feeling Aria had gotten from Cure Star.

Aria stared up at the girl. The girl seemed not to notice.

Aria blinked, and then she was gone, coffee left to steam atop the roof.

"Ah, so you're the one Rune talked about."

With a start, Aria turned around. The purple-haired girl was now behind her, smiling sweetly with narrowed eyes.

"Stardrops are all one color. Though yours are _blue_ , not pink...could just be Rune. Kurilines' eyes are shitty anyway."

The girl stepped back, smirking.

"Alright, then. I knew you were going to be here - heard your little fairy's broadcast. Not very hard to tap that, you know?"

Oh god. The girl thought...thought _she_ was Cure Celestial.

"I'm not Cure-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're not Star. You don't need to tell me - you look goddamn nothing like her." Aria's heart started to pound. She wasn't a Pretty Cure, she couldn't be a Pretty Cure, she didn't want to be a Pretty Cure-!

"Not gonna transform? Fine. Then I'll do it."

The girl spread her arms wide.

"Change! Mirror my heart!"

A heart necklace around the girl's neck flew open, the mirror shining bright. In a flash of purple light, the girl's outfit was immediately different. It was if her casual outfit had turned into some sort of teal and red trenchcoat.

Wait.

Purple hair. Teal top, red trenchcoat like bottom. Red eyes…

The girl from the video six months ago.

"You recognize me?" The girl asked mockingly. "I am Nebulous, servant of the Everlasting and member of the Outer Limits' Trinity."

The girl - well, Aria supposed it was Nebulous, then - made a face.

"Ugh, I hate doing that intro. Remember the name, Precure."

"I'm not a Pretty Cure!" Aria protested, her hands clenched so tightly into fists her knuckles were turning white.

"Oh?" Nebulous narrowed her eyes. "You don't take pride in it? Probably a smart choice."

"You don't understand, I'm not-"

"ARIA!"

For a second, Aria's heart soared. It could be the Pretty Cure, coming to take down Nebulous themselves and save Aria.

The hope was dashed as soon as Aria saw Madison's wide-eyed face coming closer and closer.

Breathing heavily, Madison stopped in front of Aria, glaring at Nebulous.

"And who are you?"

Nebulous sighed, exasperation on her face.

"I'm not doing the speech again. Don't give a shit what Ritzu says about name recognition."

Aria looked at Madison, and smiled apologetically.

"Says her name is Nebulous, of something called the Outer Limits. I think she's looking for the Pretty Cure?"

That got Madison's attention.

"Like the alien that attacked us two days ago."

Aria nodded.

Nebulous looked utterly disinterested.

"So are you two going to reminisce about Rune's crappy job at killing you, or are we actually going to get on with our lives? _Transform_ , Pretty Cure."

Aria held Madison's hand.

Pretty Cure this, Pretty Cure that. Why couldn't she just understand? Why couldn't she just leave them _alone_?!

Aria trembled with a mix of anticipation and anger.

And all at once, the words rushed out.  
"For the last time, we aren't Pretty Cure! I can't be! _We_ can't be! I want to protect Madison, and Niko, and all that...but I don't have that strength, okay?! I'm just human!"

Madison looked at her, eyes wide.

"You can attack me if you want! I don't care! I came here to get answers, and all I found was you! So just try me - but I won't let you hurt Madison, Pretty Cure or not!"

Aria's eyes watered. God, not now! She cried easily, but she was trying to prove a point, don't cry-!

"She's my best friend...Madison and Niko are my best friends in the world! I can't lose anyone else!"

Nebulous smirked.

"Ah, I see. You're just potentials, then. Disappointing. Still, nice of you to pour your heart out like that." She grinned a bit wider. "Easier to break it that way."

Madison tensed, holding Aria's hand tighter.

"Aria, she's gonna do something, run-"

"ASHEN • ABSOLUTION!"

In no time at all, Nebulous formed a heart shape with her hand, picking up her locket with it. The locket itself flew open, the mirror shining an unnatural violet, until the ground itself seemed to wither beneath Nebulous' feet.

"Aria," Madison muttered. "We're in over our depth. We need to go."

Aria shook her head.

"She'll follow us," she replied.

The clasp of their hands became ever closer, fingers beginning to bleach white and a slight tremble in each hand.

Madison laughed slightly, a humourless sound of _we fucked up_.

"Should have stayed home like she said," she laughed.

Aria smiled.

"You never were good at staying out of trouble."

The greying ground crept towards them, but Madison and Aria held their ground. They didn't know what was happening, what it was leading to, or much of anything, really.

But they didn't want to run, for whatever reason.

Maybe it was because they had run before, six months ago.

Maybe it was just because they were stubborn, the two of them.

Maybe…

"Shimmering blue light of love, protect me from despair." Madison tilted her head at Aria's mumbled prayer of sorts.

"Blazing orange light of passion, protect me from despair," Madison echoed. Why "orange light had passion" had come out of her mouth instead of "blue light of love," she didn't know.  
Maybe it was absolutely nothing at all.

Sollari was gripping onto Cure Celestial's shoulder when they felt it.

A tenuous connection to the sun, to the bright potential of Pretty Cure. Their eyes flickered gold, the stripe on their head shimmering, their tail twitching.

Someone had said _it_. The call, the prayer to Hope.

"Celestial, ari! There's people in trouble, ari!"

Celestial looked at them as they ran across building tops to the closed Luros Preparatory.

"Where?"  
Sollari squeezed their eyes shut, but couldn't focus enough.

"I can't tell, ari...it seems to be blocked by the power of darkness, ari." That was a really bad excuse, but Celestial seemed to buy it.

"Well, we'll take care of the Outer Limits first, right?" Celestial jumped off the roof, landing softly on the ground.

Sollari squirmed in place. Something was wrong here. Both of the powers...seemed to be familiar.

The power of the stars was always familiar, a feeling of home and hope wrapped together. But the power of the void...they shouldn't have recognized it.

No matter what, they had to fight for the stars. It would be okay, right?

 **Please…**

Sollari perked up, their ears stiffening.

 **Protect us from despair!  
** Sollari froze. The world went greyscale around them, Celestial's words fading into a burst of static.

They were a solar messenger. They must protect everyone from despair, from the power of the void.

Sollari leapt off Celestial's shoulder, hitting the ground running. They clambered up the locked gate, scampering across the empty hallways.

A glimmer of orange and blue was there, just out of reach. If they could just reach them-!

Sollari burst out into the courtyard to see two girls holding hands tightly against the dark power of the void. Their stardrops shone with fear and determination all at once.

Sollari backed up, and sprung up with their hind legs, reaching out to the girls. The two turned, eyes widening. The dark power crept up their legs, to their hips, to their chests.

"I won't leave you behind, ari! I'll save you, ari!"

Celestial was yelling for them, but Sollari focused their power to the sky above, to the sun shining down on them.

"FIGHT, ARI!"

Color returned to Sollari's vision as she caught the girls' hands where they connected, and curled around them tightly.

Twin rays of light shone from the girls' chests. One bright orange, a flame of strength, and one cool blue, a pool of love.

Light expanding, and twisting, souls bursting forth to create hope.

The power of darkness recoiled as the third figure, a girl a Sollari hadn't noticed, flinched at the shining light.

Wait, no. That couldn't be right. There was something within that girl, too.

Not stardrops, per se, and that should have struck Sollari as strange. But the red energy quivering within her wanted to reach out to Sollari's call. They could feel it.

The girl rushed Sollari's twin wards, and Sollari stiffened, hissing at her like an angry earth animal.

She finally stepped back as Sollari's wards were enveloped in orange and blue light, eyes still locked onto Sollari.

No matter what, she was from the Outer Limits. And Sollari had sworn to protect all they could from that dark power of the void.

No matter what, they would help these girls. They always rushed into this, and they wished they could do something without using this power, but they didn't have a choice.  
Sollari would never let another world fall because of their own fear.

"No matter what, ari."

" _Don't go."_

" _C'mon, Sumi! It's the ultimate fight. We have to win. We will win!"_

" _But what if you lose?"_

" _We won't lose, Kasumi. Not with you behind us."_

" _I love you, Sumi."_

" _We both do!"_

" _I….love you too. I love you too! I believe in you! Do your best!"_

" _That's the spirit!"_

" _Aw, Kasumi. You're too sweet."_

" _I love you two! I love you, Dawn and Dusk! Do your best!"_


	6. Chapter 6

"Do you want to be a Pretty Cure, Niko?"

Niko looked at Aria, the girl's expression unreadable in the dark field. Her glasses caught the reflections of the stars, glinting brightly.

"I know I do," Madison declared to the other side of her. "Have you seen what Star and Aster can do? It's crazy."

"Aster threw that last Seikai so high up last week, I thought it was an airplane until it came back down!" Niko grinned.

The three of them laughed at that, if only for the mental image.

"But really, Niko. Do you want to be a Precure?" Aria repeated.

Niko thought about it for a second.

"I mean...I like how they protect people. And they seem so nice, too. But I'm not sure I could do that - the whole fighting thing, I mean. They do it every week! It's pretty impressive. What about you, Aria?"

"Me? I dunno. It's kind of scary, isn't it? Fighting those big monsters they make from people's...souls, or whatever." Aria murmured.

Niko nodded.

"That's only if you don't have magical-ass powers. Those girls have a bat that can become a _sword._ I don't think they're scared of anything," Madison stated bluntly.

"Guys, if we were Precure, what'd our names even be?" Niko wondered aloud. "They're both like star-themed, right? So...space themed?"

"Comet. Comet's an easy one. It's going with the whole hot-headed but actually chill thing I've got going on." Madison looked almost unnaturally pleased with herself at that assessment.

"Pulsar," Aria said. Madison and Niko both looked at her in disbelief. "Cure Pulsar."

"The hell is a pulsar?" Madison asked.

Aria shrugged.

"I dunno."

Niko put her head in her hands.

"God, we're stupid," she groaned.

Madison lightly punched Niko in the arm.

"Says the girl who gets the good grades around here. What about you, dude? What's your Cure name?"

"It's not really a specific space thing…" Niko mumbled, fidgeting on the grass.

"Nah man, you can't get more generic than Comet." Madison smirked. "What is it?"

"Cure…."

Madison and Aria looked at her expectantly.

"Cure Celestial. I'd be Cure Celestial."

"Aria. Aria, cmon. Open your eyes."

Madison gripped Aria, shaking her.

"Come on. Come on, Aria. We aren't dead, so you can't be dead or anything. Just open your eyes."

A murmur. That was something. Something.

"Aria."

A tiny sliver of blue eyes met Madison's own.

"Madison? Where…"

"Take it easy," Madison said. She wasn't sure how much time had passed between the animal-thing appearing and the present.

Speaking of the animal-thing, it was watching them, twitching nervously. It seemed conflicted on helping them, Madison noted.

"Are you...are you okay, ari?" it squeaked.

"Yeah, yeah…" Aria shook her head, holding onto Madison in the orange and blue void of light.

"As okay as I can be in sparkle hell, I guess," Madison responded, eyes narrow.

"Ah, well, that's good, ari. I pulled you in really...really suddenly, ari. And two at once is never a really, um, good idea, ari." The animal smiled weakly, sparkling black eyes wide. "I am Sollari et Al of the Vertex Core, ari. I am a Solar Messenger, and I am to be...to be, ari…"

Madison made a motion for the animal to continue. It looked at her.

"Let me...let me start over, ari. I'm Cure Celestial's Solar Messenger, ari. I gave her the power to transform and fight the Outer Limits, and, um, I wish to know if you would be willing to do that too." Another weak smile. Madison didn't relax her guard, not for a second. The alien girl from two days ago had looked pretty cutesy and harmless as well.

"So, so, so...please, ari." Sollari took a breath, then opened their eyes, blinding golden light flowing from their eyes and the stripe on their head. Twin balls of light appeared between their small paws, as they began to shape it.

Madison winced at the bright light, but Aria reached out to Sollari. They locked eyes, and Sollari gave Aria the first ball - now disk - of light.

As Sollari presented Madison the second disk, she took it hesitantly.

"It's a lot to ask, ari. But please, ari...Celestial can't do this alone, ari. Even if...even if it's only one of you-!"

"I'll do it."

Madison turned her head to see Aria staring at the disk of light as it faded into some sort of makeup compact.

"I'll become a Pretty Cure."

Sollari's eyes softened.

"Thank you, ari. I can't...I can't thank you enough, ari."

Madison grabbed Aria's wrist.

"Aria, you can't. I don't want...I don't want you to get hurt, okay?!" Aria looked at Madison with determined eyes, and Madison felt the pit of dread in her stomach deepen. "It's too much like six months ago. We barely know what we're signing up for!"

"I don't care."

Madison gaped at Aria, who was holding the compact to her chest.

"The Pretty Cure need our help, Madison. If we can do anything, I want to try." She gave Madison a small smile. "Don't you remember? Eight months ago, when we pretended to be Precure?"

"More like roleplaying," Madison grumbled. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"We wanted to be heroes, Madison. All three of us. So come on, Cure Comet." Aria outstretched one hand to Madison, another on the compact.

"Okay," Madison sighed. "If it's for everyone...I'll do it."

"You are both, um, both very very strong, ari." The words that escaped Sollari were almost whispers, and Madison felt like she was not meant to hear them.

"So, what do we do?" Madison asked.

"What I gave the t-two of you is a Solar Compact, ari. It'll work with the stardrops within you, ari. So just open it, and press the buttons from right to left, ari. Actually, um, first just repeat - repeat after me, ari."

Madison finally investigated the compact. The top was orange, with a star shape on it. Not like any makeup compact she had seen before. She snapped it open, looking at the colored buttons and the clear jewel set in it.

"Okay," Aria affirmed, her own compact open as well.

"Pretty Cure, ari!"

"Pretty Cure!" Their two voices resounded together. Madison caught her gaze in the mirror, three orange stars in her eyes. An orange star shape drew itself on the mirror.

"Infinity Reflection, ari!"

Madison, on some whim, pressed the buttons in the compact. Blue, red, green.

"Infinity Reflection!"

The star shape blinked three times, and the gem's white light turned orange.

A bolt of light shot out, encompassing Madison's body and igniting, leaving an orange dress behind. The fire dissipated into tendrils of orange energy that ran through her hair, lengthening and lightening it. Twin small braids were tied, cascading down her now wavy hair.

Aria appeared to be changing too, the light swirling around her like water. Her shimmering blue dress quickly solidified into a sort of one piece bodysuit, dark blue top and large shorts.

The orange energy closed around Madison's chest, leaving a dark orange bodice above a cream-colored shirt, the sleeves dangling loosely in the void of magic.

Aria's eyes were closed as the light shimmered around her. She waved her compact slightly, and shimmering blue designs appeared on her outfit, a spectrum of different shades and patterns.

Madison landed on nothing, holding her arms to either side of her as an orange skirt emerged from nothing but orange light, white tulle following it. She spun, pausing slightly as yellow tights covered her legs, then yellow gloves appearing upon her hands.

Aria clicked her heels together, blue boots covering her feet. She then stuck her arms out as blue magic covered them, long dark blue gloves appearing as the magic peeled away.

Madison broke out into a run, as a one-two step covered her feet in orange boots. She jumped, holding the compact in her hand as the light washed over her, giving her twin star-shaped earrings. She closed her eyes, knowing that something was happening despite her inability to see the change.

Aria pushed her glasses up as her hair floated up gently, lengthening only a little bit. A blue streak curled its way down her face.

As Madison landed, still on no apparent solid ground, she bobbed her head from left to right, twin gold wing clips attaching where the small braids in her hair had formed.

Aria was opening her eyes slowly, the irises now piercingly blue.

Madison snapped, a spark of fire appearing on her fingertip. With another spin, a trail of fire was now suspended in midair. Madison pressed the compact to her chest, the fire now enclosing her.

The compact seemed to be absorbed into her chest, leaving the star shape behind. The fire expanded into a pillar, encompassing her for a second before leaving, Madison now with an orange cape that separated into two distinct ribbon-like tendrils.

Aria pushed her compact into her chest in much the same way, tendrils of blue swirling from it and materializing a dark grey cloak that covered much of her body.

Madison winked as her mouth began to move mostly on its own.

"A great spirit that lights up the stars!" She snapped once again, waving around the small fire before blowing it out. "Cure Comet!"

Aria landed on nothing as well, holding her hands to her chest.

"Rippling love radiating across the stars!" She spread her arms out, as if giving someone an embrace. "Cure Pulsar!"

The light slowly faded away from around them, leaving the two of them looking at a very confused and angry Nebulous, who Madison had long forgotten was there.

"With a heart of passion-" Madison started.

"And the strength of love-" Aria continued. Madison reached out for her hand, feeling much more at ease when Aria took it.

"We will be your opponents for the day!"

Nebulous looked at them pointedly.

"Two at once. Fantastic," she said with a scowl.

Madison - no, she was Cure Comet now - simply looked at Nebulous, not moving.

"Whatever," Nebulous sighed. "Least it might actually be a goddamn challenge."

She rushed Comet, fist drawn back. Comet threw her arms up in a semblance of blocking, but it didn't do much against the sheer power that Nebulous had.

She stumbled backwards from the blow, knocked off balance easily.

"Ari-" Wait, no. "Pulsar!" Comet yelled, catching her friend's gaze.

"Right!" Pulsar called back, throwing her hand out, swirling magic gathering around it.

Sollari clambered up Pulsar's arm, perching on her shoulder. Pulsar nodded at whatever they said.

"Pretty Cure!" The call drew Nebulous' attention, giving Comet a window to grab and hold her tight. Pulsar's look softened slightly, but at Comet's nod she hardened once more.

"Inverted Implosion!" Pulsar posed, a striking beam of light coming from a finger gun she had made.

Nebulous struggled, cursing under her breath, and finally pushed Comet off of her. Comet jumped backwards as Pulsar's attack barreled towards Nebulous.

The beam hit Nebulous squarely in her chest, and expanded into an explosion of blue light, Comet bracing herself to not be blown away. Comet could hear Nebulous' scream from within the epicenter.

The smoke and light disappeared, leaving a Nebulous with fire in her eyes.

"So this is how we're gonna play it," she basically snarled, red eyes narrowed to slits. Nebulous cupped her compact in both hands, the heart glowing softly with violet light. She mumbled something under her breath.

Violet light shimmered around her fingertips, forming into a rapier-like sword.

Comet's eyes widened. Nebulous' weapon looked just like the old Cure Star's Moonlight Sword!

"Recognize it?" Nebulous said mockingly. "Personally, I think the purple adds some flair." She sent a smug look at Comet. "Amazing what you can get from fucking up a messenger."

Yeah, Comet was understanding nothing.

Despite that, Nebulous had drawn her sword as Pulsar tried to punch her in the back, spinning around and striking her across the face with it. A deep red cut trailed behind the point on Pulsar's cheek.

"Pulsar!" Comet yelled in response. God, this wasn't going well.

As Pulsar fell to the pavement, Comet ran towards Nebulous, with no real plan except to punch. She landed about two hits on Nebulous' chest before the girl simply sighed and drew back her sword.

Comet, with all the energy she could muster, then uppercutted Nebulous in the gut.

Shockingly, that seemed to actually do something. Nebulous' breath cut out suddenly, leaving her gasping for air for a second. And a second was all that it took for Sollari to reach Comet.

"Comet, ari!" She turned to look at Sollari, whose black eyes were serious and hard. "Use your attack, ari! Call out Pretty Cure, then go from there, ari!"

Comet only nodded. It'd probably go on autopilot like when she transformed, she reasoned.

"Pretty Cure!" she called, Nebulous glaring at her hard enough to kill. Orange energy began to cloak her fist, creating a mold of her fist that began to enlarge.

"Shooting Star-!" It wasn't exactly autopilot, but Comet's words came out in a freeflow, not thinking about a thing except punching. "SMASH!"

Her fist connected with Nebulous' locket, with a somehow sickening _crack_ ringing out around the courtyard. Nebulous was thrown back, landing harshly against a wall.

Sollari seemed to have left in the chaos of Comet's attack. Pulsar pushed herself up, fixing her glasses and getting back into a fighting pose.

"The promise of meaning in the stars!" A new voice called out loud, unnatural in the now too-quiet courtyard.

A girl walked between Comet and Pulsar, pushing her long silver-white hair behind her. Golden eyes twinkled as she smiled.

"Cure Celestial!"

Oh. So that was Cure Celestial.

Nebulous' eyes looked between Comet, Pulsar, and the new arrival. Comet couldn't tell if she was imagining it, but it seemed like her eyes went back to Comet, lingering if only for a second.

"So that makes four," she mumbled.

And, to Comet's unease, she _grinned_.

"Good."

Nebulous stood up tall, eyes once again on Comet. She clicked her locket open.

"Ritzu? We have more."

And with that, she vanished, not a trace left behind.  
~

 **Mercury.**

A fist connected with a mirror, breaking it.

Luckily, this was not one of the mirrors that connected the Trinity's dimension to the Outer Limits base. Unluckily, it meant Mercury would have to pick the shards out of his prosthetic again.

 **Nebulous has returned with information.**

Mercury scoffed, his pale red ponytail swaying.

"And, I take it, not with Cure Star or the messenger."

 **Not important. What is important, is if you are ready for your so-called plan.**

"Don't get snarky with me, Ritzu," Mercury called out, his fins ruffling. "I'm not Nebulous."

 **Is your arm ready, or do I need to go out there myself?**

"Please, Riri."

 **Don't call me that.**

Dark eyes narrowed into slits as Mercury smirked.

"It's ready. I'm not just wasting my time, you know." _Like some kurilines,_ he thought, looking at Rune "training" with her staffs in the corner. She was actually just hitting a punching bag until it ripped, but same difference.

 **Oh, and I think you'll be happy to know something.**

A fold of skin cocked upwards in interest.

 **One of the new Pretty Cures has white hair.**

Mercury's fist clenched, the mirror shards within piercing his metallic fingers. He took a deep inhale.

"Thanks, Ritzu."

 **Good luck.**

Mercury exhaled all at once.

"Like I need luck," he hissed.

It wouldn't be the same, not truly. But yet...

"Now I can make her _pay_."


	7. Chapter 7

Nebulous had vanished.

Cure Comet and Cure Pulsar stood, breathing heavily. Nothing they had done had fazed her, despite the physical damage that seemed to be occuring.

"We're alive."

The orange light left Comet in an instant, leaving a very tired Madison collapsing to the ground. Aria quickly followed.

"Cure Celestial, ari!"

Sollari scampered past the two tired girls to the newcomer with white hair, who picked up the Messenger and let them nuzzle against her.

"I shouldn't have left you, ari! But these girls, they were so worried, and I heard them, ari-"

"I'm not mad, Sollari. I'm just glad you're okay."

The voice sounded familiar.

Aria looked up to Celestial, who's gaze was only on Sollari along with a gentle smile.

"To be real, I don't know if I scared her off or anything. I'm just glad I didn't have to fight Nebulous alone."

"Yeah, it's all great. 'Cept we were the ones getting beat up," Madison snarked.

"It wasn't that bad, Madison," Aria protested. Probably wasn't a good idea to get angry at a much more experienced Pretty Cure. "The only real damage she did was slicing my cheek like that."

The slash had healed quickly with the power of the stars, but there was now a pale scar where the sword had struck her. And, maybe Aria was imagining it, but it seemed a bit...purple.

"Well, I'm glad you two are okay!" Celestial said, cuddling Sollari and smiling.

"So, are you gonna leave, or….?" Madison sounded frustrated, but Aria could understand. It felt kind of vulnerable to have Celestial see them as civilians now, even if they had de-transformed unwittingly.

Celestial looked confused.

"Why would I do that?" Madison's eyes narrowed.

"Because we don't know who the hell you are and would rather have a slight amount of privacy? Goddamn."

"Oh!" Celestial's eyes widened. "Right, right, you don't know!"

Cure Celestial detransformed in a flash of white light, leaving behind a shorter smiling girl with black hair.

Wait a second.

Madison's mouth was slightly agape as she scrambled for an accusation.

However, Aria got there first.

"NIKO?!"

"You know, I don't think we can count that as a victory, ari."

"Sollari, we survived against the girl who took down the Starlight Duo. It's less of a 'we won' party and more of a 'holy shit, we're alive' party."

Niko, Madison, and Aria were sprawled out on Madison's bed, overly sugary milkshakes and assorted pastries piled on the desk.

"Geez, Niko. Can't believe you didn't tell us."

Niko gave a sheepish smile, or her best imitation of one with a mouth stuffed full of croissant.

"Mmsh mmll-" she swallowed hard, coughing a little. Madison rolled her eyes, but with a smile on her face.

"Well, I mean, it was kinda sudden, you know? One day, I'm late for school and meet an alien bunny, then I fight a birdman, then the school gets attacked - a few days later I was still just picking up the pieces, my dude." Niko took another too-big bite of croissant, following it up with a elongated gulp of milkshake.

"I get it, I get it. It's just surprising that we'd all become Precure, so long after we wanted to." Madison smiled, but the thought did kind of worry her. Was it really just a coincidence, that the three of them in particular would become Precure?

"Like fate," Aria mused, as if she could hear Madison's thoughts. "Like we're all connected to this Precure thing. With Chikara…"

The mood dropped with that one name. Madison's milkshake suddenly didn't seem so appetizing.

Thankfully, the door opened. Sollari stiffened in an instant, becoming like a stuffed animal.

"Jesus, you girls are gonna eat all my food at this point," mumbled Madison's older brother.

"Jonah, what the hell did I say about knocking? We were having a moment here!" Madison yelled. Just because she was grateful about the intrusion didn't mean she would admit it. "And what do you mean, food? We've had like, ten pastries, tops. You bought us the goddamn milkshakes and everything!"

Jonah shook his head, sighing.

"You guys are gonna die from like, diabetes."

"Says the man who once ate an entire chocolate rabbit in half an hour."

"I told you to never speak of that."

Jonah groaned as Niko laughed, Madison giving her brother a smug look.

"The school called, anyway. They say that since it was only one classroom damaged, and the guy was caught, they're gonna be open tomorrow."

It was Madison's turn to groan at that.

"Ugh, really? They couldn't even give us the week?"

"Wait." Aria looked at Jonah, eyes skeptical. "What do you mean, they caught the guy?"

"It's all over the news, dude. Some guy turned himself into the police, and he matched up with all the witness reports and everything." Jonah shrugged. "Kinda weird if you ask me, but hey, it's pretty good."

"Witness...reports?" There couldn't be any witness reports. Everyone had been frozen. Anyone who hadn't been would have seen the alien.

"Yeah, well, I dunno about all this crime stuff. I've watched like, four episodes of CSI. Sorry." Jonah was taking it all fine, though with a pinch of salt. That's because he hadn't been _there_. He hadn't seen Cure Star crash through the window and fight an alien who had frozen the entire classroom and attempted to kill Madison and Aria.

Madison had. Madison had come inches away from death, seconds away from never seeing him again.

And everyone had just forgotten? Forgotten almost being frozen to death? Forgotten Cure Star showing up and saving them?

Forgotten it all?

Whatever. It wasn't something Madison needed to fix.

"Well, shout if you need anything. Anything that isn't more sugar, anyway. Don't want to have dead bodies to clean up," Jonah joked. Madison winced.

The door closed.

"Everyone forgot," Niko said, bluntly. It was the first she'd spoken since Jonah had mentioned the school.

Madison nodded.

"Just like before."

"You guys keep mentioning that, ari." Sollari perked up, shaking the stiffness from their body. "But I-I don't really understand, ari. What exactly happened in this world after the reap of stardrops, ari?"

Madison sighed.

"It's uh, complicated-"

"If you didn't have a relationship with the people that were taken, you wouldn't remember them," Aria cut off. "It wasn't like they never existed - they were in pictures and the like. You just wouldn't...notice. That's why it never got national attention. People just didn't care."

"B-but how, ari? That's not any power of the Outer Limits I know of, ari!" Sollari seemed very distressed by this revelation, tail twitching.

"Well, you didn't know about the original Cure Star or Cure Aster. Maybe you forgot, too," Niko suggested.

Sollari's eyes widened.

"It's not that big of a deal," Madison said.

Aria nodded.

"We all got used to it, Sollari. It's okay. If you needed to remember, you wouldn't have forgotten in the first place."

"HOW CAN YOU ALL BE SO COMPLACENT, ARI?"

Niko looked up to a wide-eyed and shivering Sollari.

"Y-y-you know what happened, ari! You haven't f-forgotten, ari! How can you just let people forget it all, ari?!"

"Because it's better," Madison snapped back. "The Seikai attacks - even before the last one - hurt people, Sollari. _Killed_ people, Sollari. Jonah lost one of his closest friends during that attack. He wouldn't come out of the house for weeks. I had to take care of _myself_ , Sollari. So yeah, I'm glad he forgot about it."

Sollari drew back. They seemed to steel themself, then spoke.

"Do you think I care about one person, ari?" Their eyes were cold.

Madison felt rage bubble up in her.  
"You - you _made_ me become Pretty Cure. I fought that girl - the one who killed everyone, mind you - because of _you_ , rabbit. And then you look me in the eyes and say that you don't give a shit about the one person I want to protect the most?"

Sollari's steel broke as quickly as it had come up.

"I, um, didn't quite say that, ari-"

"No, you did. You may not care about one person, but I sure do."

"Listen, Madison-" Aria pleaded.

"NO! I won't just stand here and listen to that thing insult my brother to my face, just to try to make me do something that isn't even possible!"

Sollari shakily stood up on two legs, narrowing their eyes.

Madison met their gaze.

They took a breath.

"Memories beget love, ari. Love begets courage, and passion, and empathy, ari. Those emotions nurture your very soul, Madison Forrester, ari. Without them, without those memories - without the knowledge of their love, apathy grows in its place, ari." They were shaking, but stood their ground. "Forgive me, ari, if I do not care about the sorrow of one human, ari. Even sadness, anger - they are strong emotions nonetheless, ari. They are the antithesis of despair and apathy, ari. And that energy, that power, that hope that life will become better - that is what gives your stardrops the energy to persist, ari. Without that, ari?"

Sollari scoffed, a noise that sounded absolutely _wrong_ coming out of the messenger. The petite body and wide eyes did not suit the anger inside of them.

"Then you are just sitting, waiting for the Outer Limits to devour you, ari. What good are your lives then, if not for the universe, ari?"

Madison had an answer.

"Get out."

Niko grabbed Sollari, pulling them to her chest. Madison narrowed her eyes. What the hell did she need that thing for? They could be Precure - Madison could be Precure without it!

"Get out. I don't want you here."

"Madison, please. Sollari doesn't-" Niko attempted to say something, but stopped at the icy glare Madison sent her.

"You've known this thing how long? Four days?" Niko didn't respond. "Face it, Niko. You don't know this thing. It isn't from our world. Why should I trust it?"

This time, it was Aria who spoke up.

"Because they made us Pretty Cure. If we could believe in the Starlight Duo, then we can believe in Sollari," she said softly.

Madison almost laughed.

"Oh really? Didn't that last one try to make Nebulous or whatever a Precure? Yeah, I'm real glad everyone trusted that decision."

A _smack_ rang out across the room.

Madison placed a hand up to her cheek in shock.

Sollari had jumped up and hit her across the face with their tail. They bristled, much like a cat.

"Don't you _ever_ insult Lune again, ari," they hissed.

"I thought I told you to leave," she retorted.

Niko scooped up Sollari, slowly turning to walk away.

"You don't have to go with it, Niko," Madison called.

Niko turned back to look at Madison.

"I trust Sollari," she said. "They saved me by turning me into a Pretty Cure. Even if they don't understand what happened here, I believe they can help us. And that we can help them."

Madison glared, with more anger than she personally wanted at the moment.

"And, Madison?" Niko gave a weak smile. "I hope you'll believe in them soon."

And with that, they left.

" _Fuck_ ," hissed Madison. She turned to Aria. "You understand, right?"

Aria just looked at Madison, wide eyes shocked.

"Aria, that thing doesn't care about us. It wants to make things normal. Doesn't it understand that _this_ is normal now? I don't want anyone...I don't want anything to change again!"

Aria didn't answer.

"All we know, it could just be leading us to our deaths like the other one lead the Starlight Duo!"

Nothing.

"Don't you get it?!" Madison cried.

Aria stood up, and opened Madison's door.

"No," she said flatly. "I don't."

With the gentle closing of a door, Madison was left alone.

Oh, now _that_ was interesting.

The orange girl from earlier - Cure Comet, was it? - was alone, according to the locket. Alone, and angry, but not dismayed enough to reveal her stardrops. Bit of a shame, but still an opportunity.

The girl's attack had _hurt_. It had actually shocked Nebulous out of her pattern - she had had to take the fight a bit more seriously after that. Of course, it was almost predictably easy. Even with the Celestial girl, she could have finished them off with the sword alone.

But the Everlasting had been clear. The more Precure, the more chances they had to gain a spark. As much as Ritzu wanted the Trinity to just extract one, no matter the consequences, Nebulous wasn't about to go against the Everlasting.

This wasn't a race, and Ritzu should know it. They were the predator here, weren't they?

This was a game of attrition.

And it was time to start.

"Cure Comet, was it?" The voice came from the girl's compact, causing her to open it.

The girl stared into the mirror, meeting Nebulous' gaze, eyes narrowed and dark.

"You," she growled. "You're the one that got me into this mess."

Nebulous smiled.

"What if I could get you out?"


	8. Chapter 8

You: hey, chika  
You: hope you're doing alright  
You: i got some new stories to tell  
Error 404. This Number Could Not Be Reached At This Time.

You: i told you about all the pretty cure stuff, right?  
You: cause it's been getting pretty mental  
You: madison hasn't talked to me for the last three days  
You: i wonder if I should apologize  
You: you think it was my fault?

Error 404. This Number Could Not Be Reached At This Time.

You: i mean, i just don't know

You: her and sollari were really going at it  
You: i think you'd like sollari  
Error 404. This Number Could Not Be Reached At This Time.

You: they're very nice, but they don't take shit  
You: like you but nicer  
You: hahaha  
You: nah man i love you anyway  
Error 404. This Number Could Not Be Reached At This Time.

You: i should probably go  
You: i think something's happening in homeroom for once  
You: later man  
Error 404. This Number Could Not Be Reached At This Time.

You: i just...wish i could tell you this in person  
You: ugh that sounds dumb  
You: i guess i just  
You: miss you  
Niko looked at her phone. There was no way to phrase it without it sounding sad and kind of desperate, but it was true. She missed Chikara. She missed laughing with them and talking with them and...everything about them, really.  
It was stupid. It was stupid, _she_ was stupid, but whatever.

"Miss, could you please introduce yourself?"

Huh. A transfer student? At this point in the year?

Weird. Kinda like an anime, Niko thought. If this kid had an unnatural hair color she was gonna lose her mind.

"I'm Lyra. Lyra Kiriki. I'm fourteen years old. I like guitar. My favourite subject is math. Nice to meet you."

Text message from Madison: woah tone down the enthusiasm there champ

Niko bit back a laugh as the message popped up on her laptop. Hey, that meant Madison had talked to her. That was worth something!  
Text message from Aria: Cmon Madison, don't be rude!  
Oh. It was the group chat. Well, there went that.

"Anything else, Lyra?"

"No. I've said all I need to."

Text message from Aria: Oh boy I think she's gonna sit next to me

"There's an empty seat next to Aria - the redheaded girl waving to you. You can sit there."

You: aria's officially become part of an anime. roll the op mates

Text message from Madison: i mean we're already magical girls i think the op has been rolled  
Progress. Kind of. It was about Precure again, but progress was progress.

"Okay. Will we be moving seats?"

Niko pulled up the group text.

You: roasted

Text message from Aria: Shhhhhh

"Yes. Is there a problem with sitting next to Aria, Lyra?"

"No. I was just curious. Thank you."

Lyra sat down with a perfectly monotone voice and a blank look.

You: beep boop i am human  
Text message from Aria: fnjkdfhjkdhg  
Text message from Aria: Oh boy she's looking this way!  
Text message from Aria: Be right back guys!  
Text message from Madison: please just use brb like a normal human person

Well, at least Madison was texting them. That probably meant something.

Right?

You: i'm gonna chuck myself into a trash can if this doesn't fix itself soon, chika  
Error 404: This Number Could Not Be Reached At This Time.

"So, uh, I guess I'm your guide to this school?"

Lyra looked at Aria with skeptical eyes. It was probably the most emotion she had shown the entire time she had been here.

Aria flinched.

"I mean, I don't have to be if you don't want?" she hastily tried to amend. "Anyone specific you have in mind?"

Lyra took a breath.

"No, I don't. But I don't think having a 'guide' is required. Is it?"

"Ah, well…" Aria trailed off. This girl was not giving her much to work with. "I guess not."

"Okay," Lyra said, beginning to walk away.

"Wait!" A hand grabbed Lyra's wrist, causing her to turn and narrow her eyes.

"What is it? I thought we were done here."

"It's just that, uh, um…" Aria was feeling a bit like Sollari at the moment. Where had all this anxiety come from? "Just that…"

"Hmph." Lyra yanked her arm out of Aria's grasp, looking decidedly unimpressed.

"You're new to town, right?!"

Aria blurted it out, her face going red. What a stupid question to ask, really.

"I mean, I guess. Why?" Lyra raised an eyebrow.

"Just be careful, okay? There's been a lot of shit happening lately. A lot like there was, six months ago. I just don't want you getting hurt," Aria confessed. Yeah, the girl was a bit cold and strange, but if she really was new...then she had no idea what she had just walked into.

"I think I know." Lyra waved a hand, turning and walking away.

She really didn't, though. And there was no real way to explain it.

Aria felt like she had just sent someone to be executed, and she couldn't explain that, either.

 **Cure Pulsar!**

Aria let out a noise not unlike a small puppy's.

 **Sorry, sorry, sorry, but Madison won't talk to me! I got the info from Niko, but I need you to know, too!**

"What is it?" she mumbled under her breath.

 **Another one, Aria! Another one of the Trinity!**

"What?" Aria attempted to shake the surreal feeling of telepathy enough to focus.

 **Madison says she knows who he's after. I don't really know enough about humans...is she famous or something?**

"Sollari, you have to explain. I really don't know what you're saying." Didn't know alot about humans was a slight understatement, but that wasn't an argument to be had right now.

 **It's a girl at your school? Madison said she just came back after being gone for a while.**

Lyra?

Oh god. That explained the pit she felt in her stomach.

"Got it, Sollari. Tell Niko I'm on it. I can stay with her."

 **Okay!**

As her head cleared, Aria took a deep breath.

Time to find an excuse to stalk Lyra.

Wait. That sounded better in her head.

"She's really on it?" Madison asked.

"Yeah. Sollari tried to contact you, but you weren't responding."

"I don't want them in my head. Tell them that for me."

Niko seemed super happy that Madison was talking to her, which she didn't get.

It wasn't that she was mad at her. She was mad at Sollari. Sometimes it was just hard to make a distinction between the two of them.

"Who is this girl, anyway?" Niko asked.

"Some junior called Hailey Comden. She was caught in an attack a few months back, with the Starlight Duo. But I was watching the old footage, and it wasn't a Seikai. It was someone else. Not someone I recognize, either."

"Oh. So he's holding some sort of grudge?"

"As far as I can tell," Madison admitted. She didn't know a lot from the news footage and her source. But hey, a name was a name.

"Alright. I'm sure Aria can handle it, no matter who it is! She was so strong in that fight. I mean, you both were! Sollari says…" and that's where Madison began to tune Niko out. Every sentence was Sollari, Sollari, Sollari. When would she realize that the thing didn't care about her like a friend would? She was a means to an end for that creature.

"Right, Madison?" Madison blinked.

"Huh? Yeah, I guess."

"Great! Sollari was so sure you were mad at them, and they really wanted to apologize for anything like that, but they swear that…" God, she didn't care what that thing had to say for itself.

"Hey Niko, I gotta go. Jonah's home." It was a straight up lie, but Madison didn't really care at the moment.

"Oh, already? Okay, man! See you!"

Madison flopped down on her bed as Niko hung up. She should probably tell her that they could just contact each other through the compacts.

But that was something else to explain. Plus, she could interrupt her and her...contact.

Speak of the devil, the compact sprung open of its own accord, the telltale sign of contact being made between the two of them.

"What do you want, Nebulous?"

The girl in question huffed at Madison's cold tone.

"I told you to call me Kasumi like this. This isn't professional."

"Not happening." Madison liked to keep track of this shit. No first names. "You call me Comet, and I call you Nebulous. I don't want you thinking that we're friends."

"Sure, sure, firefly."

"And what have I told you about that? I'm Comet, not firefly."

"Ugh, you're so boring." Nebulous rolled her eyes. "Anyway, are you guys on it or not? Mercury's pissed - I don't know what motivation Ritzu gave him this time, but you might need some backup."

The girl looked different than how Madison had last seen her. The unsettling smirk was gone from her face, replaced with a seemingly permanent scowl. Her long purple hair was dark enough that it could easily be mistaken for black, and her red eyes were dark and dull as well. The teal and red hoodie was back, however, and the golden ribbon on her head never seemed to leave her person.

"Aria will be fine," Madison said. "She's capable."

"I sure hope so. Mercury's a dick. And if we're gonna pull this off, you don't want him near you."

"You say pull this off, but you still haven't told me enough." Madison crossed her arms.

"Listen. All you need to know is that I'm on your side as long as you're on mine," Nebulous said.

"And you can really do it?"

Nebulous nodded.

"As long as you give me Cure Star, I can do _anything_. It's just about getting you there."

Madison took a breath.

"Right. Let's do it."

Nebulous grinned.

"Hey, maybe I might even make an appearance. For show, of course. It'd be a great distraction."

"Oh please. Don't think you could distract from a literal fish man."

"C'mon. Have you seen me? I'll just buy another coffee and dump it on my head or something. All eyes on me, baby."

"That's a waste of perfectly good coffee."

"I could just absorb it through my skin or shit."

"You can do that?"

"Pfft, no."

Madison laughed. Maybe she really wasn't so bad. Her intentions seemed good.

Maybe…

" _Why should I help you, anyway?"_

" _You get back your life, and I get back m̛̳͖͉̮̘̼͓͍̽̔̍̅͂͒̈̊͢i͙̻̳̊̓̑̅́͝n̨̝̘̪͍̪̺̫ͪ̀ͫ̽͋̅̌ͩ͢ͅe̙̼̣͍͋̌ͯ̓͞ͅͅ."_

Hailey Comden had been out of school for two months, twenty-five days, six hours, and fifty-four minutes.

But who was counting, really?

The girl in question sipped a hot chocolate at the Flowerlight coffee cart, looking at Luros Prepatory's outline on the horizon.

Sure, school had long past ended for the day. The sun was dipping below the horizon, bathing the area in orange light.

But that didn't stop her heart from beginning its telltale pound. The pound that told her, more fiercely than any truancy officer, that she'd have to go back at some point.

It wasn't that this was her first absence. God, it wasn't. It had been another two months when she had first dropped out, and a single month when the attacks ended. Officially, she would have to repeat this year.

She wouldn't, like half of the class. She would simply move onto senior year, and all the transcripts for the junior class would have a so-called glitch.

Hailey just knew these things. She knew it the same way that she knew that if she asked anyone about Angela Weiss and Mei Huang and Sarah Johnson that they would simply not understand the words coming out of her mouth.

Ah, and there was the burning sensation at the back of her throat. Hailey hadn't missed it, but at the names, it had come back. Same as always, she supposed.

The pink-haired girl working at the coffee stall yelped. Her blue-haired friend dropped a cup, and it shattered.

Hailey didn't pay attention to that.

She paid attention to how their stardrops' glow dimmed.

"Interesting," she said, placing her hot chocolate down. "And how'd you manage that?"

The person who had done such a thing was to the back of her. She knew that. And his stardrops….and his stardrops….

He didn't have any.

Hailey whipped her head around, and her eyes widened in genuine shock for the first time in months.

Grey, sleek skin. A red "ponytail" made of more fin than hair. One side of a torso sporting long, black fronds. A light blue gossamer robe, fastened with dark purple. Dark black lines under wide, full, bronze sclera without a pupil or iris to be seen.

But that wasn't what shocked her.

It was the metallic, brass arm that had been affixed to the frond-less side of the figure. A bright purple heart had been emblazoned on the side. It glowed menacingly.

"You fixed it," she said. The words were heavy on her tongue.

"No thanks to you," Mercury of the Outer Limits said. "I take it you still have the compact."

"You never told anyone, did you?" Hailey asked. "They never came after me, you know. You shouldn't have been so stubborn."

"I call it a personal thing," he said, running his brass fingers through his ponytail. "A grudge, so to speak."

"So you waited? All this time? Six months?"

"How better to pay back the girl who single-handedly embarrassed me and _refused_ to ever show her face again?" he asked, voice surprisingly genuine. "You deserve a fair fight."

"Wow. I should be honored," she said, pouring malice into the words. "But shouldn't you wait for something like this? I feel like it's a finale or something, and this has all barely started."

Mercury laughed.

"Please. I came here to tell you that tragically, you've dropped on my list of priorities." Hailey narrowed her eyes. "There's someone more important than you, now."

"Great. So, you're here to kill me?"

"Did you expect anything different? I'm going to get payback. You shattered my arm, and so I shatter your body and pry the last Cure Compact out of your cold, dead fingers."

"Edgy."

"Thanks."

He ran at her.

Hailey pulled out the small, silver compact from the moon-emblazoned pouch it had created the first time she had ever used it.

"Pretty Cure! Infinity Reflection!"

Purple light burst outwards, a pillar of crackling light streaking upwards.

In a second, it dissipated, leaving behind a girl with long, purple hair that flowed in a ponytail that defied weight and mass.

Her purple bodice and large, lilac and white hoop-like skirt shimmered as tiny arcs of electricity connected between them.

The miniature pink star under her right eye glowed.

And she sidestepped Mercury's rage-filled punch with her eyes still closed.

"No introduction?" he snarled. "No fancy name? I'm disappointed, Pretty Cure."

She opened her eyes, strikingly pink and filled with determination.

"Don't be," she said.

She turned to face Mercury.

"I need no introduction. I am Cure Nova, and the only one I have faced, and ever will face, will be you, Mercury of the Outer Limits."

She extended an arm, which began to crackle with the amount of white-hot electricity that was gathering in the palm of her outstretched hand.

"Now…"

Cure Nova narrowed her eyes.

"You will pay for murdering my friends, monster."


End file.
